GIFT  OF 

Jucksch 


AMERICAN  CRISIS  BIOGRAPHIES 

Edited  by 

Ellis  Paxson  Oberholtzer,  Ph.  D. 


Bmerf  can  Crisis  Biographies 

Edited  by  Ellis  Paxson  Oberholtzer,  Ph.D.  With  the 
counsel  and  advice  of  Professor  John  B.  McMaster,  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Each  i2mo,  cloth,  with  frontispiece  portrait.  Price 
$1.25  net;  by  mail,  $1.37. 

These  biographies  will  constitute  a  complete  and  comprehensive 
history  of  the  great  American  sectional  struggle  in  the  form  of  readable 
and  authoritative  biography.  The  editor  has  enlisted  the  co-operation 
of  many  competent  writers,  as  will  be  noted  from  the  list  given  below. 
An  interesting  feature  of  the  undertaking  is  that  the  series  is  to  be  im 
partial,  Southern  writers  having  been  assigned  to  Southern  subjects  and 
Northern  writers  to  Northern  subjects,  but  all  will  belong  to  the  younger 
generation  of  writers,  thus  assuring  freedom  from  any  suspicion  of  war 
time  prejudice.  The  Civil  War  will  not  be  treated  as  a  rebellion,  but  as 
the  great  event  in  the  history  of  our  nation,  which,  after  forty  years,  it 
is  now  clearly  recognized  to  have  been. 

Now  ready : 

Abraham  Lincoln.     By  ELLIS  PAXSON  OBERHOLTZER. 
Thomas  H.  Benton.     By  JOSEPH  M.  ROGERS. 
David  G.  Farragut.      By  JOHN  R.  SPEARS. 
William  T.  Sherman.     By  EDWARD  ROBINS. 
Frederick  Douglass.     By  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 
Judah  P.  Benjamin.     By  PIERCE  BUTLER. 
Robert  E.  Lee.     By  PHILIP  ALEXANDER  BRUCE. 
Jefferson  Davis.     By  PROF.  W.  E.  DODD. 

In  preparation : 

John  C.  Calhoun.     By  GAILLARD  HUNT. 
Daniel  Webster.     By  PROF.  C.  H.  VAN  TYNE. 
Alexander  H.  Stephens.     BY  Louis  PENDLETON. 
John  Quincy  Adams.     By  BROOKS  ADAMS. 
John  Brown.     By  W.  E.  BURGHARDT  DUBOIS. 
William  Lloyd  Garrison.     By  LINDSAY  SWIFT. 
Charles  Sumner.     By  PROF.  GEORGE  H.  HAYNES. 
William  H.  Seward.     By  EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE,  Jr. 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.     By  PROF.  ULRICH  B.  PHILLIPS. 
Thaddeus  Stevens.     By  PROF.  J.  A.  WOODBURN. 
Andrew  Johnson.     BY  WADDY  THOMPSON. 
Henry  Clay.     By  THOMAS  H.  CLAY. 
Ulysses  S.  Grant.     By  PROF.  FRANKLIN  S.  EDMONDS. 
Edwin  M.  Stanton.     By  EDWIN  S.  CORWIN. 
"  Stonewall "  Jackson.     By  HENRY  ALEXANDER  WHITE. 
Jay  Cooke.    By  ELLIS  PAXSON  OBERHOLTZER. 


AMERICAN  CRISIS  BIOGRAPHIES 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS 


by 
WILLIAM  E.  DODD,  PL  D. 

Author   of  "Life  of   Nathaniel  MACOO,"  eic. 


PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


JUCKSCH 


COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY 

GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Published  December,  1907 


To  my  Mother 


184842 


PREFACE 

THE  purpose  of  this  short  biography  of  Jefferson 
Davis  is  not  to  justify  or  even  defend  the  course  of  the 
foremost  leader  of  the  Confederate  cause  ;  but  simply 
to  relate  the  story  of  that  remarkably  tragic  life  and, 
in  so  far  as  the  limitations  of  time  and  space  permit, 
correlate  his  career  to  the  main  current  of  American 
history.  If  ardent  admirers  of  the  Confederate  Presi 
dent  find  reason  to  complain,  I  have  only  to  say  that  I 
have  kept  as  close  to  the  "  sources  "  as  possible  ;  if  on 
the  other  hand  extreme  advocates  of  nationalism  are 
displeased,  I  must  say  that  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  there  was  a  real  and  vital  nation  within  the 
limits  of  our  republic  before  the  issues  for  which  Davis 
gave  his  life  were  settled. 

Whether  the  American  public  as  a  whole  is  ready 
for  a  "life"  of  Davis  is  a  question  which  may  be  de 
bated  ;  that  interest  in  him  is  steadily  growing  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  since  the  writer  began  his  labors 
three  other  students  of  Southern  history  have  entered 
the  field.  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  work  will  then  cer 
tainly  be  discussed  anew  in  the  near  future,  and  with 
less  acrimony  than  in  the  past.  Let  us  hope  that  a 
juster  estimate  of  his  services  may  be  the  result. 

In  the  preparation  of  these  pages  I  have  been 
greatly  aided  by  the  authorities  of  the  Confederate 
Museum  in  Eichmond,  of  the  Virginia  State  Library, 
of  the  Library  of  Congress,  of  the  Carnegie  Institu- 


8  PKEFACE 

tion  and  of  the  Charleston  City  Library.  Mr.  Thomas 
M.  Owens,  of  the  Alabama  Department  of  History  and 
Archives,  and  Mr.  Dunbar  Kowland,  of  the  Missis 
sippi  Department  of  Archives  and  History,  very 
kindly  placed  at  my  disposal  the  resources  of  their 
valuable  collections.  Dr.  Ellis  P.  Oberholtzer  and 
the  publishers  have  also  been  unfailing  in  attention 
and  courtesy  while  the  book  was  going  through  the 
press.  To  all  these  and  to  others  who  have  "  lent  a 
hand"  I  wish  here  to  make  hearty  acknowledgment. 

WM.  E.  DODD. 

Randolph  Macon  College, 
October  21,  1907. 


CONTENTS 

CHRONOLOGY 11 

I.    EARLY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING      .        .  15 

II.    ON  THE  WESTERN  BORDER  ...  28 

III.  LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  ...  49 

IV.  A  DANGEROUS  ISSUE   .        .        .        .70 
V.    ONE  YEAR  OF  WAR      ....  79 

VI.    FIRST  SESSION  IN  THE  SENATE     .        .  93 
VII.    SLAVERY  AND  THE    COMPROMISE  OF 

1850 104 

VIII.    THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CRISIS  IN  MISS 
ISSIPPI        122 

IX.    IN  THE  CABINET 130 

X.    THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT    .        .  151 
XI.    THE  BREAK-UP  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC 

PARTY 174 

XII.    DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  ....  189 

XIII.  THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY  215 

XIV.  THE  CONFEDERATE  ADMINISTRATION'S 

POLICY 226 

XV.    MANASSAS 241 

XVI.    A  GLOOMY  WINTER     ....  256 
XVII.     THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR       .        .274 
XVIII.    EISING  TIDE  OF  CONFEDERATE  OPPO 
SITION        291 

XIX.    THE  CRISIS  OF  THE  WAR     .        .        .303 

XX.    THE  CONFLICT  DRAWS  TO  A  CLOSE      .  318 

XXI.    THE  COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY  343 

XXII.     AFTER  THE  WAR          ....  365 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 384 

INDEX  .  386 


CHRONOLOGY 


1808 — June  3,  born  in  Christian  County,  Ky.,  the  tenth  child  of 
Samuel  Davis  and  Jane  Cook,  one  of  Georgia,  the  other  of 
South  Carolina  origin. 

1811 — The  Davis  family  settles  in  Wilkinson  County  in  south 
western  Mississippi. 

1813 — Put  to  school  under  local  teachers  in  a  "  log  cabin  school- 
house." 

1815— Sent  to  St.  Thomas's  College,  a  Dominican  school  in  Wash 
ington  County,  Ky. 

1818 — Attends  Jefferson  College  in  Adams  County,  Miss.,  which 
is  soon  exchanged  for  the  new  Wilkinson  County  Academy, 
where  he  conies  under  the  instruction  of  John  A.  Shaw  of 
Boston. 

1821— Enters  Transylvania  University,  Lexington,  Ky. 
1824— Appointed  a  cadet  at  West  Point. 

1828 — July,  graduates  with  his  class  and  is  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Army. 

1828-9 — Stationed  at  Fort  Crawford,  now  in  Illinois. 
1829-31 — Stationed  at  Fort  Winnebago,  now  in  Wisconsin. 

1831— Superintendent  of  a  government  sawmill  on  the  Yellow 
River  in  northern  Wisconsin. 

1832 — At  Galena,  111.,  among  the  lead  mines. 

1833— Again  at  Fort  Crawford.  Participates  in  the  closing  scenes 
of  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

1834 — Promoted  to  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant  and  appointed 
Adjutant  of  the  First  Dragoons.  Stationed  at  Fort  Gibson, 
Ark. 

1835— June  30,  resigns  his  commission  in  the  Army,  soon  to 
marry  Miss  Knox  Taylor,  daughter  of  Colonel  Zachary 
Taylor.  September  15,  his  wife  dies  at  the  home  of  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Smith,  Bayou  Sara,  La.  Visits  Havana,  New 
York  and  Washington. 


12  CHEONOLOGY 

1836 — A  cotton  planter  in  Warren  County,  Miss. 

1843 — Becomes  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for  a  seat  in 
the  legislature  ;  discusses,  in  a  notable  debate  at  Vicksburg, 
the  issues  of  the  day  with  S.  S.  Prentiss. 

1844 — Polk  and  Dallas  elector.  Canvasses  the  state,  making  a  de 
cided  impression. 

1845 — February  26,  married  to  Miss  Varina  Howell,  Natchez, 
Miss.  Elected  to  United  States  House  of  Representatives. 
In  November,  introduces  Calhoun  to  a  great  assemblage  in 
Vicksburg. 

1846— June,  resigns  his  seat  in  the  House  to  accept  command  of 
the  Mississippi  Rifles,  a  regiment  of  volunteers  for  the  Mex 
ican  War.  September  21-23,  bears  a  distinguished  part  in 
the  battle  of  Monterey. 

1847 — February  23,  Taylor's  chief  assistant  in  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista.  December,  takes  his  seat  for  the  first  time  in  the 
United  States  Senate. 

1851 — September,  resigns  seat  in  the  Senate  to  become  candidate 
of  the  Democratic  party  for  the  governorship ;  defeated  by 
Henry  S.  Foote. 

1852 — Takes  active  part  in  the  Pierce  campaign. 
1853 — March,  becomes  Secretary  of  War. 
1857 — March  4,  reenters  the  Senate. 

1858 — July  4,  makes  a  speech  on  board  a  ship  off  Boston,  in 
which  he  deprecates  disunion  sentiment  North  as  well  aa 
South.  October  12,  speech  in  Faueuil  Hall,  urging  obe 
dience  to  the  Constitution. 

.  1860 — February  2,  submits  a  series  of  seven  resolutions  embody 
ing  the  demands  of  the  Southern  Democrats.  May  16-17, 
debate  with  Douglas. 

1861 — January  21,  withdrawal  from  the  Senate.  February  9, 
elected  Provisional  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
February  18,  delivers  his  inaugural  address  in  Montgom 
ery.  April  17,  proclamation  in  reply  to  Lincoln's  call  for 
troops.  May  29,  takes  up  his  residence  in  Richmond, 
July  21,  battle  of  First  Manassas.  October  6,  elected 
President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 


CHEONOLOGY  13 

1862 — February  22,  formally  inaugurated  in  front  of  the  Wash 
ington  monument  in  Richmond.  June  28-July  6,  first 
siege  of  Richmond  raised.  December  10-31,  visits  the 
Southwest  in  the  hope  of  arousing  the  people  and  putting 
an  end  to  army  difficulties  in  that  region. 

1863— April.  Battle  of  Chancellorsville.  July  1-3,  battles  of 
Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg.  September  19-20,  Chicka- 
mauga.  November  23-25,  Missionary  Ridge.  December  3. 
Pius  IX  recognizes  the  Confederacy. 

1864 — August  17,  removes  Joseph  E.  Johnston  from  the  com 
mand  of  the  Army  of  the  West.  October  to  November, 
visits  Georgia  to  rally  the  people  to  the  failing  Confederacy. 

1865— January  1- 12,  Confederate  Congress  plans  to  proclaim  Lee 
dictator,  to  supersede  President  Davis.  January  12,  Davis 
appoints  Hampton  Roads  commissioners.  February  9,  Lee 
made  generalissimo.  February  22,  Lee  restores  Joseph  E. 
Johnston  to  the  command  of  the  army  in  front  of  Sherman. 
April  2,  Davis  leaves  Richmond.  April  9,  Lee  surren 
ders  at  Appomattox.  April  10,  Davis  flees  from  Danville, 
Va.,  toward  Greensboro,  N.  C.  April  24,  leaves  Charlotte, 
N.  C.  May  10,  captured  near  Irwinsville,  in  southern 
Georgia  and  sent  to  Fort  Monroe  as  a  state  prisoner. 

1865-7— From  May,  1865,  to  May,  1867,  in  prison  at  Fort  Monroe. 
1868— Travels  in  England  and  France. 

1869— Becomes  president  of  a  life  insurance  company  with  head 
quarters  in  Memphis,  Tenn. 

1874 — Failure  of  the  insurance  company. 

1877 — Visits  England  a  second  time,  endeavoring  to  interest  Brit 
ish  capitalists  in  a  scheme  for  building  up  the  commerce  of 
New  Orleans  and  Mobile  with  South  America. 

1878 — Settles  at  "Beauvoir,"  Mississippi,  on  the  Gulf  coast. 
1881 — Publishes  his  Else  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government. 
1889— December  6,  dies  after  a  short  illness  in  New  Orleans. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS 


CHAPTEE  I 

EARLY  YEARS  AND  TRAINING 

IT  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  think  and  speak  dispas 
sionately  of  Jefferson  Davis.  His  career  recalls  to 
the  Northern  man  the  long  and  agonizing  struggle 
of  1861  to  1865  ;  and  to  the  Southerner,  it  suggests 
anew  the  separate  nationality  once  so  fondly  dreamed 
of,  and  the  consequent  disappointment  which  bore  so 
heavily  upon  good  and  noble  men  now  living.  The 
portrait  of  Davis  as  displayed  in  a  show-window  in 
Washington,  serves  as  a  barometer  to  the  patriotic 
feelings  of  the  lingering  passer-by  :  one  rails  at  this 
inanimate  symbol  of  the  past ;  another  stops  to  pay 
his  tribute  to  one  of  its  tragic  and  heroic  figures. 

Between  these  extremes,  it  is  the  author's  aim  to 
steer  a  middle  course,  in  the  hope  that  the  ardent 
nationalist  may  be  induced  to  pause  while  a  great 
career  unfolds  before  him  ;  in  the  hope  also  that  the 
follower  of  "Jeff"  Davis  may  forget  the  woes  of  the 
past  to  contemplate  blessings  of  the  present  which 
could  hardly  have  been  possible  had  the  "lost  cause" 
prevailed. 

The  grandfather  of  Jefferson  Davis  came  to  Phila 
delphia  from  Wales  in  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  But,  unlike  the  tendency  of  our  day,  the 


16  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

tide  of  emigration  flowed  southward  through  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas  to  northeastern  Georgia.  Germans 
from  the  wasted  Palatinate ;  Scotchmen  and  Irish 
peasants,  who  thought  to  better  their  lots  in  the  new 
world,  moved  along  the  foothills  of  the  Blue  Eidge 
Mountains  and  spread  out  to  the  eastward,  wherever 
the  pressure  from  the  tidewater  settlements  was  not 
too  great.  Evan  Davis  joined  one  of  these  southern 
parties.  He  found  a  home  in  Georgia  and  soon  mar 
ried  a  Mrs.  Williams,  formerly  Miss  Emory,  of  the 
same  colony.  One  child  sprang  from  this  union, 
Samuel  Davis,  who  was  early  left  fatherless  and  on 
whom  fell  the  responsibility  of  providing  for  his 
mother. 

In  the  year  1778,  when  the  Eevolutionary  War  had 
been  waged  with  varying  fortunes  for  two  long  years, 
an  English  expedition,  sent  to  the  Southern  colonies  to 
hold  in  check  the  insurgent  forces  there,  threatened 
to  subjugate  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  Young 
Davis,  now  approaching  his  majority,  raised  a  com 
pany  of  militia  and  marched  to  the  relief  of  Savannah, 
the  point  of  attack.  The  British  made  short  work  of 
whatever  defenses  the  city  and  the  surrounding  coun 
try  had  set  up,  and  Georgia  fell  at  a  single  blow  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  imperfect  records  of 
the  time  do  not  show  what  became  of  Davis  and  his 
troop.  A  grant  of  a  thousand  acres  of  laud  by  the 
state  of  South  Carolina  when  the  war  had  ended  is  the 
foundation  for  the  belief  that  he  and  his  men  took 
service  under  one  of  the  guerrilla  chieftains  of  the 
Palmetto  State,  and  that  he  was  an  able  and  patriotic 
officer.1 

1  Original  patent  now  in  Confederate  Museum,  Richmond,  Va. 


EAELY  YEAES  AND  TRAINING  17 

At  the  close  of  the  struggle,  Samuel  Davis  married 
Miss  Jane  Cook,  a  South  Carolina  lady,  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  and  settled  near  Augusta,  Ga.,  where  he 
was  later  made  clerk  of  the  county  court.  About  the 
turn  of  the  eighteenth  century,  he  moved,  with  a  large 
family  of  children,  to  Christian  County,  in  central  Ken 
tucky,  there  becoming  a  tobacco  planter  and  stock 
raiser.  Here  Jefferson  was  born  on  June  3,  1808,  the 
youngest  of  nine.  It  is  suggestive  of  the  strange 
vicissitudes  of  human  destiny  to  recall  the  fact  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  first  saw  the  light  some  hundred  miles 
away  in  the  same  state  of  Kentucky,  and  only  eight 
months  later.  And  the  circumstances  of  their  births 
were  not  so  widely  different  as  has  been  assumed,  for 
the  parents  of  each  were  far  removed  from  the  high 
circle  of  " first  families"  which  distinguished  South 
ern  society  for  half  a  century  to  come.  The  Lincolns 
were  poor,  even  destitute ;  the  Davises  belonged  to 
the  middle  class  of  Southerners  whose  members  owned 
few  slaves  and  whose  children  often  did  much  of  the 
daily  labor  of  the  farm  or  small  plantation. 

Samuel  Davis  could  not  have  been  very  successful 
in  Kentucky,  for  we  find  him  on  the  road  again  about 
1809.  This  time  he  directs  his  way  to  Bayou  Teche  in 
Louisiana — a  distance  of  a  thousand  miles ;  but  the 
change  of  climate  being  too  radical  for  the  health  of 
his  family,  he  " moves"  once  more,  now  settling  three 
hundred  miles  to  the  northeastward  in  Wilkinson 
County  in  lower  Mississippi  Territory.  It  was  here, 
on  a  medium-sized  plantation  about  one  mile  east  of 
Woodville,  the  county  seat,  and  some  forty  miles  from 
the  Mississippi  River,  that  Jefferson  spent  his  early 
boyhood.  His  father  could  hardly  have  been  wealthy, 


18  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

having  "  moved  "  twenty-five  hundred  miles  in  the  last 
few  years  and  at  a  time  of  life  when  most  men  have 
become  firmly  rooted  in  their  communities.  Besides, 
there  were  many  children  and  agriculture  in  the  South 
was  anything  but  profitable  at  that  period. 

Samuel  Davis  was  a  Baptist  and  a  Democrat,  terms 
which  indicate  the  character  of  the  man  and  his  social 
standing,  the  small  circle  of  Southern  aristocrats  of 
that  day  being  almost  exclusively  Episcopalian  in  re 
ligion  and  Federalist  in  politics.  The  new  Davis 
home  was  unpretentious  and  plainly  furnished ;  the 
fields  were  cultivated  by  members  of  the  family  and 
the  few  negro  slaves,  under  the  personal  supervision 
of  the  master  himself.  The  oldest  son,  Joseph  Emory 
Davis,  had  -been  left  behind  at  Hopkinsville,  Ky., 
"reading  law."  He  seems  to  have  been  unusually 
successful,  for  in  a  few  years  we  find  him  settled  iu 
Warren  County,  Mississippi,  the  owner  of  a  large 
plantation  and  many  slaves.  When  his  father  died, 
in  1824,  he  became  the  head  of  the  family  and  assumed 
the  guardianship  of  the  younger  children.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  he  was  rated  as  "  worth  "  a 
million  dollars. 

The  first  we  know  of  young  Jefferson  is  that  he  was 
sent  to  one  of  the  neighborhood  schools  in  company 
with  an  older  sister,  and  that  he  was  a  sensitive,  proud- 
hearted  boy  who  considered  himself  her  "  guardian 
and  protector."  It  was  a  "log  schoolhouse"  and  he 
was  then  only  six  years  old.  At  seven  he  was  sent  on 
horseback  a  distance  of  nearly  a  thousand  miles,  to  a 
Catholic  academy  for  boys  in  Washington  County, 
Kentucky,  in  the  very  community  which  young  Abra 
ham  Lincoln's  father  was  leaving  because  "  it  was  no 


EAELY  YEAES  AND  TEAINING  19 

country  for  a  poor  man."  He  was  entrusted  to  a 
company  of  north- bound  travelers  led  by  Major  Hinds, 
the  commander  of  the  Mississippi  dragoons  in  the 
recent  New  Orleans  campaign  against  the  English. 
Jefferson  and  young  Howell,  a  seven-year-old  son  of 
Major  Hinds,  rode  their  ponies  day  after  day  on  this 
journey  through  the  limitless  swamps  and  forests. 
The  party  camped  by  the  wayside  at  night  when 
there  was  no  house  near  by,  and  to  this  end  a  negro 
servant  with  tents,  blankets,  supplies,  and  cooking 
utensils  had  been  provided.  This  was  just  at  the  close 
of  the  War  of  1812,  when  General  Jackson  was  the 
hero  of  the  day.  Major  Hinds  could  not  fail  to 
halt  at  Nashville  to  stay  some  time  with  the  idolized 
victor  of  New  Orleans.  They  spent  a  few  days  at 
the  "  Hermitage,"  a  roomy  log-house  in  the  midst  of 
large  oak-trees  and  flanked  by  cotton  and  grain 
fields.  The  master  of  the  estate,  it  would  seem,  made 
a  decided  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  Mississippi 
boy. 

In  the  so-called  college  of  St.  Thomas,  a  school  of 
the  Dominican  friars,  young  Davis  fell  under  the  par 
ticular  attention  of  Father  Wallace,  who  was  after 
ward  to  become  prominent  in  the  South  as  Bishop 
of  Nashville.  Of  his  studies  and  his  manner  of  life 
there,  we  know  only  what  he  has  preserved  for  us  in 
the  fragment  of  an  autobiography  which  Mrs.  Davis 
has  published  in  her  Memoir. l  That  he  was  about  to 
become  a  Catholic  and  was  restrained  by  one  of  the 
teachers  ;  that  he  joined  in  the  mischief-making  of  the 
boys  who  liked  practical  jokes  ;  and  that  he  was  dis 
ciplined  somewhat  in  the  rudiments  of  an  education, 
1 A  Memoir  of  Jefferson  Davis,  by  his  wife,  early  chapters  of  Vol.  I. 


20  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

we  learn  from  the  same  authority.  At  nine  years  of 
age,  he  accompanied  his  guardian,  Charles  B.  Green, 
back  to  Mississippi,  going  on  a  steamboat  by  way  of 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  He  was  then  sent 
to  another  school  with  a  high-sounding  name,  Jef 
ferson  College,  in  Adams  County,  Mississippi  j  his 
roommate  here  was  John  H.  Harmanson,  later  a 
member  of  Congress  from  Louisiana  and  a  stanch 
adherent  of  Davis  in  the  crisis  of  1850.  From  his 
tenth  to  his  thirteenth  year,  he  attended  the  new 
Wilkinson  County  Academy  at  Woodville,  where  he 
made  much  progress  under  the  efficient  tutelage  of 
John  A.  Shaw  of  Boston,  later  superintendent  of 
schools  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  a  pioneer  in 
the  cause  of  public  education  in  this  far  off  region. 

In  the  summer  of  1821,  young  Davis,  now  just  enter 
ing  his  fourteenth  year,  became  a  student  in  Transyl 
vania  University  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  then  the  most 
important  institution  of  learning  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  He  was  probably  none  too  well  prepared  to 
join  the  freshman  class,  but,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  bit 
of  autobiography,  above  referred  to,  he  declined  to 
associate  with  younger  and  smaller  boys  than  himself, 
and  hence  matriculated  as  a  sophomore  and  under 
took  to  "make  up"  his  deficiencies,  especially  in 
mathematics,  by  outside  effort.  In  this  he  obtained 
the  assistance  of  one  of  the  professors  ;  but  at  the  end 
of  his  third  session  we  find  him  only  becoming  a 
senior.  As  this  class  was  expected  to  be  graduated  in 
1825,  it  shows  that  he  did  not  keep  up  with  the  one  he 
had  joined  and  perhaps  is  proof  that  he  was  not  in 
all  respects  a  satisfactory  student,  notwithstanding  the 
assertion  that  he  won  " honors77  in  the  examinations 


EAELY  YEAES  AND  TEAIOTNG  21 

of  July  or  August,  1824.  Since  the  records  of  the  col 
lege  have  been  entirely  destroyed,  we  are  left  without 
adequate  information  as  to  his  standing.  One  of  his 
admirers 1  says  l '  he  was  the  first  scholar,  ahead  of  all 
his  classes  and  the  bravest,  handsomest  of  all  the  col 
lege  boys.77  Another  adds :  "  He  was  a  good  student, 
always  prepared  with  his  lessons,  very  respectful  and 
polite  to  the  president  and  professors.  I  never  heard 
him  reprimanded  for  neglecting  his  studies  or  for  mis 
conduct  of  any  sort.  ...  He  was  rather  taciturn 
in  disposition,  attractive  in  appearance,  had  a  well- 
shaped  head,  and  of  manly  bearing.77  2  But  these  esti 
mates  must  be  taken,  naturally,  cum  grano  sails. 

While  at  college  he  boarded  with  a  Mrs.  Ficklin, 
who  lived  on  East  High  Street  and  whose  husband  was 
the  postmaster  in  the  town.  Here  his  relations  were 
most  cordial  and  he  seems  to  have  entered  somewhat 
into  the  social  life  of  the  place.  He  was  of  a  lively, 
mischievous  disposition,  as  is  evidenced  by  a  practical 
joke  played  on  a  transient  fellow  boarder  whose  self- 
esteem  was  all  too  evident.  Davis  inserted  an  an 
nouncement  in  the  local  paper,  signed  "  Many  Voters,77 
calling  on  the  sojourner  to  become  a  candidate  for  the 
office  of  sheriff.  The  subject  of  the  hoax  took  the 
matter  quite  seriously  and  was  the  innocent  source  of 
much  amusement  in  the  neighborhood. 

Transylvania  University  was  a  high-sounding  name  ; 
it  was  not  so  misleading  as  some  others  of  later  origin. 
There  were  departments  of  law,  medicine  and  theology, 
besides  the  regular  academic  work;  and  the  institution 

1  Geo.  W.  Jones,  of  Iowa,  see  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  27. 

2  Judge  Peters,  Mount  Sterling,  Ky.,  to  Mrs.  Davis.    See  Memoir, 
Vol.  I,  p.  29. 


22  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

had  well-known  men  on  its  list  of  professors,  among 
whom  were  Holly,  the  president ;  Caldwell,  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania ;  Bishop,  of  Dublin,  later 
president  of  Keuyon  College,  Ohio  ;  and  Jesse  Bledsoe. 
Davis  was  unquestionably  influenced  by  Holly  and 
Bishop,  the  teacher  of  ancient  languages,  of  whom  he 
tells  some  ludicrous  stories  suggestive  of  the  nature  of 
college  instruction  in  the  early  decades  of  the  nine 
teenth  century.  As  a  sort  of  summing  up  of  the  prog 
ress  made  at  Transylvania,  the  student's  own  words 
may  be  given:  u There  I  completed  my  studies  in 
Greek  and  Latin,  and  learned  a  little  of  algebra, 
geometry,  trigonometry,  surveying,  profane  and  sacred 
history,  and  natural  philosophy."  His  friends  at  col 
lege  were  David  Atchison  of  Missouri,  the  later  Gov 
ernor  Dodge  of  Wisconsin,  George  W.  Jones  of  Iowa, 
S.  W.  Downs,  and  E.  A.  Hannegan,  all  of  whom  were 
members  of  the  United  States  Senate  during  the  dec 
ade  just  prior  to  1860.  With  Jones  the  relationship 
was  intimate  and  remained  so  throughout  the  vicissi 
tudes  of  the  war  down  to  the  death  of  the  Confed 
erate  chieftain  in  1889.  During  this  residence  at 
Lexington,  Davis  became  known  to  Henry  Clay  and 
from  some  remarks  of  the  former  in  the  debates 
on  the  crisis  of  1850  one  is  led  to  believe  that  the 
great  statesman  showed  the  young  student  special  at 
tentions. 

Toward  the  middle  of  July  of  this  year,  Davis  re 
ceived  the  news  of  the  death  of  his  father,  whom  he 
had  not  seen  since  he  entered  college  and  indeed  had 
never  known  very  well.  A  letter  of  his,  dated  Lex 
ington,  Ky.,  August  2,  1824,  to  his  sister-in-law,  Mrs. 
Susannah  Davis,  gives  us  something  of  the  spirit  and 


EAELY  YEAES  AND  TRAINING  23 

mind  of  this  boy,  whose  life  was  to  play  so  fatal  a  part 
in  the  history  of  our  republic  : 


"DEAR  SISTER: 

"It  is  gratifying  to  hear  from  a  friend,  espe 
cially  one  whom  I  had  not  heard  from  so  long  as  your 
self  ;  but  the  intelligence  contained  in  yours  was  more 
than  sufficient  to  mar  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  from 
any  one.  You  must  imagine,  I  cannot  describe,  the 
shock  my  feelings  sustained  at  the  sad  intelligence. 
In  my  father  I  lost  a  parent  ever  dear  to  me,  but 
rendered  more  so  (if  possible)  by  the  disasters  that 
attended  his  declining  years.  When  I  saw  him  last  he 
told  me  that  we  would  probably  never  see  each  other 
again.  Yet  I  still  hoped  to  meet  him  once  more ; 
Heaven  has  refused  my  wish.  This  is  the  second  time 
I  have  been  doomed  to  receive  the  heart-rending  intel 
ligence  of  the  death  of  a  friend.  God  only  knows 
whether  or  not  it  will  be  the  last.  If  all  the  dear 
friends  of  my  childhood  are  to  be  torn  from  me  I  care 
not  how  soon  I  follow.  I  leave  in  a  short  time  for 
West  Point,  State  of  New  York,  where  it  will  always 
give  me  pleasure  to  hear  from  you.  Kiss  the  children 
for  Uncle  Jeff.  Present  me  affectionately  to  brother 
Isaac  ;  tell  him  I  would  be  happy  to  hear  from  him  ; 
and  to  yourself  the  sincere  regard  of 

' l  Your  brother, 

"JEFFERSON." 


The  Davis  family  took  an  unusual  interest  in  the 
education  and  training  of  the  youngest  son.  That  he 
was  especially  promising  there  is  no  substantial  evi 
dence  ;  that  he  was  quick,  alert,  and  affectionate, 
proof  enough.  He  was  one  of  a  family  of  nine 
brothers  and  sisters  of  equal  claims  on  the  attention 
and  care  of  the  father ;  yet  he  was  the  only  one  who 
had  been  sent  to  the  best  of  schools.  Of  him  alone  do 


24  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

we  hear  in  the  plans  of  the  elder  Davis,  though  in  all 
probability  the  other  children  received  a  fair  educa 
tion.  And  now  on  the  death  of  the  father,  the  oldest 
brother,  Joseph  E.  Davis,  a  man  of  wealth  and  influ 
ence  on  his  own  account,  takes  particular  pains  to 
complete  the  schooling  of  young  Jefferson.  The  first 
plan  had  been  to  let  him  finish  his  course  at  Lexing 
ton,  and  then  enter  the  University  of  Virginia,  just 
opening  its  doors  to  the  expectant  South.  This  scheme 
was  changed  by  an  appointment  to  West  Point  from 
Congressman  Eankin  of  the  lower  district  of  Mis 
sissippi,  probably  because  of  the  influence  of  Joseph 
Davis,  although  there  could  hardly  be  any  question  of 
the  fitness  of  the  proposed  candidate. 

Davis  entered  the  national  military  academy  on  Sep 
tember  1,  1824.  Here  he  was  brought  into  immediate 
association  with  a  remarkable  group  of  men,  includ 
ing  Eobert  E.  Lee,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  Joseph  E. 
Johnston,  as  well  as  many  others  rendered  famous  by 
the  great  events  of  the  Civil  War.  Davis  did  not  take 
a  high  place  in  his  classes  and  at  the  end  of  the  course 
he  stood  only  number  twenty  among  thirty -three  stu 
dents.  Mathematics  gave  him  much  difficulty,  and  his 
conduct  was  not  the  most  exemplary.  Once,  at  least, 
he  came  near  being  expelled  along  with  other  cadets, 
since  he  was  suspected  of  having  a  share  in  a  student 
riot  in  which  his  roommate  was  a  leader.  Eefusing 
to  answer  questions  about  his  colleague,  he  paid  the 
penalty  of  many  weeks'  close  confinement.  This  con 
duct,  as  well  as  his  general  demeanor,  made  him 
popular  with  his  fellows,  a  relationship  which  he 
prized  more  highly  than  the  esteem  of  the  authorities. 
It  is  needless  to  add  that  he  was  not  promoted  from 


EAELY  YEAES  AND  TEAINING  25 

the  ranks,  and  he  graduated  as  a  private.  From  the 
beginning  of  his  career  at  the  academy,  he  was  on  bad 
terms  with  one  of  the  professors,  and  the  two,  accord 
ing  to  the  report  of  Davis' s  friends,  were  constantly 
nagging  each  other.  Who  the  professor  was  is  not 
stated ;  but  both  were  popular  with  the  students, 
which  only  added  interest  to  the  long  warfare.  On 
one  occasion,  when  the  class  to  which  he  belonged 
was  experimenting  with  some  explosives,  one  of  the 
fuses  became  ignited.  Everybody  hastened  from  the 
building,  the  instructor  following.  Davis,  however, 
quickly  seized  the  dangerous  instrument  and  threw  it 
out  of  the  window. 

Notwithstanding  the  rather  untoward  events  of  his 
cadet  life,  he  was  lastingly  influenced  by  the  strict 
soldierly  regime ;  and  his  close  attachment  to  the 
fortunes  of  his  alma  mater  was  manifested  in  a  hundred 
ways  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  the  intimate 
friendships  of  these  days  becoming  a  part  of  his  very 
existence.  There  was  hardly  a  member  of  his  class 
whom  he  did  not  render  some  signal  service  at  a  later 
time,  and  certainly  no  one  of  his  "set"  failed  to  be 
advanced  by  him,  either  when  he  was  a  high  official 
in  the  United  States  government  or  during  the  short 
career  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Indeed,  one  of 
the  permanent  traits  of  Davis' s  character  now  appears 
well  defined, — that  of  absolute  and  sometimes  mistaken  j/v 
loyalty  to  all  whom  he  regarded  as  his  friends.  His 
devotion  to  his  family  took  the  form  of  forwarding  to 
his  mother  the  savings  from  his  small  salary  while  at 
West  Point — a  touching  testimonial  of  the  sacrifices 
which  they  had  made  for  him  during  the  whole  of  his 
life. 


26  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

What  kind  of  a  young  man  was  this,  now  leaving 
the  national  military  academy  ?  In  appearance  he  was 
fair,  delicate  of  feature,  with  high  forehead,  large  blue 
eyes  and  rather  prominent  cheek-bones.  He  was  thin 
and  more  than  six  feet  tall.  His  step  was  light  and 
springy — perhaps  a  result  of  his  West  Point  training. 
His  presence,  conduct,  and  manner  indicated  self- 
esteem,  pride,  determination,  personal  mastery.  There 
was,  too,  something  of  the  martinet  about  him,  a  fear 
lessness  that  amounted  to  temerity  at  times,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  stories  of  his  friends  and  comrades. 
He  was  every  whit  an  officer,  the  "West  Pointer" 
of  Southern  origin  in  almost  perfect  type — and  up  to 
that  time  the  South  had  seemed  to  set  the  tone  and 
make  the  traditions  of  our  famous  military  training- 
school.  That  this  young  man  had  political  convictions 
aside  from  those  of  the  average  army  officer — which  is 
to  fight  for  the  flag  under  all  circumstances— is  very 
doubtful.  His  absence  from  home  during  the  larger 
portion  of  his  life  had  precluded  any  active  interest  in 
the  politics  of  his  region.  He  undoubtedly  had  some 
recollection  of  the  last  year  of  the  War  of  1812,  when 
two  of  his  brothers  volunteered  for  the  defense  of  New 
Orleans  under  Jackson  ;  and  at  a  very  early  age  he  had 
heard  the  story  of  that  war  from  the  brave  leader  of 
the  Mississippi  dragoons.  He  had  spent  a  week  or 
two  at  the  home  of  the  General,  whom  he  says  he 
venerated  as  one  of  Nature's  noblemen  ;  and  he  had 
also  been  brought  under  the  spell  of  Henry  Clay,  so 
that  it  is  needless  to  argue  that  he  was  anything  more 
than  one  of  the  country's  devoted  young  defenders 
against  every  enemy.  That  he  had  imbibed  states' 
rights  views  of  the  Constitution  from  text-books  or 


EAELY  YEAES  AND  TEAINING  27 

teachers  at  West  Point  is  probably  only  a  theory  of 
later  years  ;  for  text- books  seldom  impress  so  indelibly 
the  minds  of  their  weary  readers,  and  in  1828  the 
teaching  of  governmental  science  had  hardly  made  a 
beginning.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  Davis  accepted  his 
commission  without  any  serious  question  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  government  which  gave  it. 1 

JD.  H.  Maury  (So.  Hist.  Soc.  papers  VI,  249)  says  Calhoun 
ordered  Rawle's  View  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
to  be  used  as  a  text-book  at  West  Point  in  1822,  and  that  it  re 
mained  in  use  there  until  1861.  The  book  was  first  published  in 
1825  ;  but  the  superintendent  writes  that  there  is  no  reason  to  sup 
pose  that  it  was  ever  prescribed  for  the  classes  at  the  Academy. 


CHAPTEE  II 

ON   THE  WESTERN    BORDER 

FROM  West  Point  Davis  journeyed,  in  July,  1828, 
to  his  brother's  home,  in  Warren  County,  Mississippi, 
to  enjoy  his  first  vacation  since  1821.  In  these  years 
the  old  homestead  in  Wilkinson  County  had  been  in 
part  broken  up.  The  older  brothers  and  sisters  had 
received  their  portions  of  the  estate  and  had  settled  in 
the  counties  along  the  Mississippi,  one  going  as  far 
south  as  Bayou  Sara  in  Louisiana.  The  mother  still 
lived  at  the  old  home,  but  spent  a  large  part  of  her 
time  at  "  Hurricane/'  Joseph  Davis' s  estate.  Here 
Jefferson  stayed  during  the  summer  and  early  autumn. 
How  much  property  he  received  from  his  father  can 
not  very  well  be  determined,  since  it  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  older  brother  as  guardian  and  adminis 
trator.  One  thing  is  known  ;  late  in  the  fall,  he  carried 
with  him  to  his  new  post  of  duty  in  southwestern 
Wisconsin,  a  sturdy,  promising  young  negro  slave, 
w4^o  was  to  become  widely  known  as  James  Pember- 
tou,  long  his  personal  servant. 

The  two  took  passage  at  the  beginning  of  cold 
weather  on  a  Mississippi  Eiver  steamer  for  St.  Louis. 
There  Davis  received  orders  to  proceed  to  Fort  Craw 
ford,  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
present  state  of  Wisconsin,  near  the  junction  of  the 
Wisconsin  and  Mississippi  Eivers.  But  he  remained 
in  the  metropolis  of  Missouri  some  days,  renewing 


ON  THE  WESTEEN  BOEDER  29 

acquaintance  with  his  old  school-fellows,  Albert 
Sidney  Johnston  and  Thomas  F.  Drayton.  Johnston 
had  been  a  Transylvania  student  who  had  preceded 
Davis  at  West  Point  by  two  years ;  Drayton  was  a 
cadet  classmate  and  a  scion  of  Revolutionary  stock  in 
lower  South  Carolina. 

The  next  we  hear  of  Davis  he  is  at  Fort  Crawford, 
spending  his  u  off  hours  "  with  George  W.  Jones,  an 
other  Transylvania  graduate,  who  now  lived  at  Sin- 
sinawa,  some  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Prairie  du 
Chien.  The  fort  was  under  command  of  Colonel 
Willoughby  Morgan,  who  died  three  years  later  and 
who  was  succeeded  by  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor,  a 
Southern  planter-soldier,  of  whom  the  country  was  to 
hear  much  in  later  years.  This  new  region,  into  which 
Davis  had  come  for  his  initial  service  as  an  officer  of 
the  national  government,  was  a  typical  border  land. 
Northern  Illinois,  western  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Minnesota  then  constituted  a  vast  wilderness,  with 
here  and  there  a  few  prairie  tracts  on  which  the 
buffalo  had  not  ceased  to  graze.  The  northern  part 
was  a  sort  of  amphibious  section  like  central  Prussia, 
lake,  river  and  bog,  relieved  now  and  then  by  thick  - 
grown  land.  Here  John  Jacob  Astor  had  established 
his  trading  posts,  whence  he  received  a  part  of  his  vast 
harvest  of  furs.  At  these  centres  there  dwelt  a  motley 
sort  of  people — Indians,  and  American  and  French- 
Canadian  trappers.  The  language  and  civilization  of 
these  isolated  settlements  were  unique — a  mixture  of 
French-English- Indian  symbols  and  ideas.  There 
were  no  churches,  schools  or  other  meeting-places.  The 
expanding  wilderness,  the  rough  experience  of  the 
wild  woods,  the  occasional  struggle  with  rival  trap- 


30  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

per  or  with  jealous  Indian,  were  their  teachers.  They 
lived  in  single-room  log  huts  built  for  protection 
against  an  enemy  as  well  as  the  severe  winter  weather. 
Superstition  and  belief  in  witchcraft  were  general.  If 
a  cock  crowed  at  sunset  some  member  of  the  family 
was  expected  to  die ;  a  rabbit  that  crossed  the  hunter's 
path  from  right  to  left  invariably  brought  bad  luck  ; 
the  cows  were  bewitched  in  spring  by  Indian  squaws 
belonging  to  unfriendly  tribes.  It  was  a  state  of  cul 
ture  close  akin  to  that  of  the  Middle  Ages  of  England, 
as  well  as  that  to  be  found  in  the  mountain  fastnesses 
of  the  South  to-day. 

In  the  early  months  of  1829,  Davis  was  detailed  to 
superintend  the  cutting  of  timber  on  the  banks  of  the 
Bed  Cedar  Eiver,  a  tributary  of  the  Chippewa.  The 
party  camped  near  the  site  of  the  present  town  of 
Menoinonee.  Owing  to  the  proximity  of  unfriendly 
Indians,  it  was  necessary  to  fortify  the  camp  and 
maintain  guards  or  small  outposts.  A  large  part  of 
Da  vis's  duty  was  to  protect  his  men  against  the  sav 
ages.  Notwithstanding  precautions,  on  one  occasion 
they  were  attacked,  and  Davis,  it  seems,  having  be 
come  isolated  from  his  party,  escaped  being  scalped 
only  by  hiding  in  the  dense  underbrush.  The  main 
business  of  the  detail  was  to  cut  logs  on  the  banks  of 
the  river,  drag  them  into  the  water,  and  fasten  them 
together  in  large  rafts,  which  were  then  guided  down 
the  stream  to  the  Chippewa,  thence  to  the  Mississippi 
and  finally  landed  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  where  they 
were  hewn  or  sawed  into  the  proper  shapes,  and  used 
in  the  construction  of  the  fortifications  or  other  build 
ings  which  the  government  was  erecting.  It  was  some 
times  hazardous  work  to  direct  the  rafts  over  the  rap- 


ON  THE  WESTEEN  BOEDEE  31 

ids  of  the  smaller  streams  ;  but  no  fatalities  were 
reported.  What  the  young  West  Pointer,  still  under 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  reared  in  school,  and  utterly 
unused  to  the  lumber  business,  could  do  in  such  a 
place  as  this  we  are  at  a  loss  to  know.  But  his  mission 
was  successful  and  two  years  later  he  was  sent  to  the 
Yellow  Eiver  camp  to  superintend  the  building  and 
management  of  a  sawmill,— proof,  perhaps,  of  his 
adaptability  and  talent,  certainly  of  the  confidence  of 
his  superiors. 

Fort  Winnebago,  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  of  the 
same  name,  was  in  1830  an  important  point  on  the 
northwestern  border.  It  commanded  the  portage  be 
tween  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  Eivers  and  was  besides 
a  strategic  centre  of  operations  in  case  of  any  concerted 
attack  by  the  many  tribes  of  Indians  living  between 
the  Wisconsin  and  the  Mississippi.  John  Jacob  Astor 
had  indicated  its  significance  to  the  national  government 
years  before,  and  had  succeeded  in  having  it  made  a 
garrisoned  stronghold.  Davis  was  sent  there  in  the 
fall  of  1829  ;  he  remained  one  year  and  gained  for  him 
self  something  of  a  reputation  as  an  adept  in  impro 
vising  comforts  for  the  inmates  of  the  post.  He  had 
some  furniture  made  of  the  heavy  timbers  of  the  region, 
pieces  of  which  have  been  preserved  and  are  still  highly 
valued  by  the  antiquarians  of  Wisconsin.  The  clumsy 
wardrobes  of  his  manufacture  were  the  source  of  some 
amusement  to  the  wives  of  the  officers;  they  gave 
them  the  name  "  Davis,"  which  they  have  borne  ever 
since.  W.  S.  Harney  was  then  in  command  of  the 
fort,  and  Saterlee  Clarke  was  also  stationed  there. 
Harney  afterward  played  a  role  in  the  Civil  War,  be 
ing  kept  in  Eichmond  under  arrest  for  some  time  at 


32  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

the  opening  of  the  struggle.  He  was  released  on  the 
order  of  the  Confederate  President  and  went  to 
St.  Louis  to  serve  the  Union  cause.  He  had  been 
a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  with  Davis 
during  the  crisis  of  1850.  There  were  other  West 
Pointers  at  Winnebago,  and  they  seem  to  have  formed 
a  very  pleasant  and  friendly  group.  Theatricals  were 
improvised  by  the  ladies  and  young  officers  ;  some  of 
the  older  men  cultivated  gardens  in  season ;  others  were 
fond  of  hunting  deer,  then  plentiful  enough  in  the 
neighborhood.  Excursions  and  reconnaissances  were 
made  in  every  direction,  Davis  recognizing  and  point 
ing  out  for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  the  surpassing 
beauty  of  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Madison  and 
its  environs.  His  spare  hours  were  not  altogether  de 
voted  to  these  outings  or  to  card  playing,  the  popular 
diversion  of  the  inmates  of  the  place,  but  to  reading. 
What  was  the  nature  of  the  literature  of  this  far-off 
point  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  The  significant  fact 
is  that  he  was  a  student  and  won  the  reputation  of  be 
ing  chary  of  losing  time  from  his  books.  From  hints 
given  out  by  his  friend  Jones  and  others,  it  had  been 
this  fondness  for  literature  that  had  retarded  his  prog 
ress  at  Transylvania  and  caused  him  to  graduate  below 
the  middle  of  his  class  at  West  Point.  The  same 
habit,  it  will  be  recalled,  characterized  Emerson  at 
Harvard  and  Poe  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  Not 
withstanding  his  love  of  the  quiet  corner,  Davis  was 
well  liked  at  the  fort  and  his  transfer  to  another  post 
next  year  was  much  regretted. 

As  already  noted,  he  was  sent  to  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Yellow  Eiver  to  continue  the  work  of  cutting 
timber  for  use  in  the  rebuilding  and  enlarging  of  Fort 


ON  THE  WESTERN  BORDER  33 

Crawford,  which  was  still  going  on.  Here  it  was  a 
repetition  of  the  experiences  of  the  first  winter  at  Red 
Cedar  River,  except  that  now  he  was  to  superintend  a 
sawmill  and  protect  it  against  Indian  invasions.  It 
required  something  of  the  diplomat  to  keep  on  good 
terms  with  the  natives,  and  Davis  learned  that  flattery 
and  management  were  much  cheaper  than  cold  lead, 
and  much  easier  to  apply.  He  made  himself  so  popu 
lar  with  his  dusky  neighbors  that  they  installed  him 
as  titular  head  of  one  of  their  tribes,  being  afterward 
known  among  them  as  the  "  Little  Chief.'7 

The  young  Mississippian  fell  a  victim  to  the  severe 
weather  of  that  winter,  known  ever  since  in  the  West 
and  Northwest  as  "the  winter  of  the  deep  snow." 
Beginning  to  fall  about  Christmas,  it  continued  until 
three  feet  deep.  Then  it  rained,  the  temperature  going 
down  to  some  degrees  below  zero,  and  in  a  short  time  a 
thick,  almost  impenetrable,  crust  of  ice  was  formed. 
The  extreme  cold  lasted  for  many  weeks  the  snow  re 
maining  on  the  ground  until  spring.  The  isolation  of 
the  Yellow  River  lumber  camp  can  hardly  be  imagined. 
Nicolay  and  Hay  describe  the  conditions  in  central  Illi 
nois  during  this  winter '  as  almost  unbearable.  What 
must  it  have  been  in  upper  Wisconsin,  above  Chippewa 
Falls,  some  three  hundred  miles  from  Fort  Crawford 
and  nearly  as  far  from  Winnebago,  with  Indians  of 
uncertain  friendliness  for  neighbors  and  only  the  few 
comforts  of  a  lumber  camp  ?  It  is  not  surprising  that 
Davis  contracted  pneumonia  ;  the  wonder  is  that  he 
did  not  succumb.  But  he  was  tenderly  nursed  by  his 
faithful  servant,  James  Pemberton,  and  recovered  after 
a  long  illness,  though  it  is  doubtful  if  he  ever  again 
1  See  chapter  on  Illinois  in  the  Life  of  Lincoln. 


34  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

was  as  strong  as  he  had  been.  From  this  time  forward 
he  was  very  susceptible  to  colds,  which  invariably  de 
veloped  into  acute  neuralgia,  frequently  rendering 
him  almost  totally  blind  for  several  days.  While 
Davis' s  work  at  this  place  was  entirely  successful,  he 
was  not  returned  to  it  the  following  autumn.  His 
next  post  was  nearer  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  it  was 
much  more  agreeable,  since  he  was  not  so  far  from  the 
borders  of  civilization. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Galena,  111.,  valuable  de 
posits  of  lead  ore  had  been  found  several  years  before. 
About  1825  the  region  attracted  much  attention  ;  hun 
dreds,  even  thousands,  of  adventurers  hastened  to  the 
spot  in  the  hope  of  preempting  lands  which  might 
prove  rich  in  minerals.  Meanwhile  the  Indian  claims 
had  not  been  extinguished ;  consequently  the  new 
comers  were  soon  in  conflict  with  the  original  owners 
of  the  soil.  A  state  of  war  ensued  and  it  became  the 
duty  of  the  United  States  troops  to  intervene.  The 
government,  following  its  well-known  policy  of  safe 
guarding  the  redskins,  ordered  a  regiment  to  Eock 
Island,  near  the  seat  of  the  difficulty.  The  natives, 
being  more  timid  than  their  opponents,  retreated  to 
the  western  side  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  pro 
spective  miners  at  once  occupied  the  lands  so  recently 
vacated.  Naturally  the  Indians  protested  and  began 
to  threaten  the  peace  of  the  neighborhood.  A  small 
body  of  troops  was  ordered  by  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor, 
[  now  the  commandant  at  Fort  Crawford,  to  march  to 
)  the  lead  mines  and  eject  the  interlopers,  keeping  the 
x!  place  clear  of  all  parties  until  the  rights  of  the  natives 
Lcould  be  bought  off  by  some  general  treaty  agreement. 
In  the  meantime,  General  Gaines,  operating  from 


ON  THE  WESTEEN  BOEDEE  35 

St.  Louis,  had  charge  of  the  soldiers  at  Eock  Island 
and  superintended  the  movements  of  the  Indians.  The 
miners  at  once  complained  that  their  government  was 
favoring  the  red  men  at  the  cost  of  its  own  people  and 
refused  to  move  when  the  troops  appeared  on  the 
scene.  Feeling  ran  high  and  whiskey  flowed  freely. 
The  situation  became  critical.  A  second  detachment 
w_as  sent,  with  Lieutenant  Davis  in  command.  Hav 
ing  somehow  made  a  favorable  impression,  perhaps 
through  the  influence  of  his  friend  Jones,  now  a  promi- 

^  nent  resident  near  by,  he  was  able  to  bring  about  an 
understanding  by  which  the  prospective  miners  were 
'!to  give  up  their  claims,  each  one  filing  a  record  of  his 
own  case  with  Davis,  until  the  government  could  de 
termine  its  policy.  This  step  having  been  taken,  he 
then  received  the  complainants  day  by  day  until  the 
place  was  entirely  vacated.  The  affair  was  deftly 
managed  and  the  young  lieutenant  won  the  just  thanks 
of  his  superiors  for  his  share  in  it. 

The  treaty  which  followed,  June  30,  1831,  though 

(  for  the  moment  it  satisfied  the  objections  of  the  In 
dians,  did  not  appease  Black  Hawk,  their  most  influ 
ential  chief.  Indeed,  he  had  never  been  a  friend  of 
the  white  man  since  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  in  which 
he  played  a  distinguished  but  a  losing  part.  From  the 
close  of  the  War  of  1812,  the  western  boundary  of  the 
United  States  had  been  steadily  expanding,  and  each 
new  enclosure  of  unoccupied  lauds  pushed  him  farther 
westward  until  now  he  was  forbidden  to  come  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Mississippi ; — even  the  burying- 
ground  of  his  race  near  Eock  Island  was  not  to  be 
visited  by  him.  The  reason  for  this  strict  limitation 
of  his  freedom  was  the  presence,  on  the  upper  waters 


36  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

of  the  Eock  and  Wisconsin  Eivers,  of  the  Winuebagoes 
and  Pottawatamies,  who  might  be  encouraged  by  the 
persuasions  of  such  a  powerful  leader  to  join  in  hostile 
expeditions  against  the  isolated  settlements  along  the 
border. 

But  paper  treaties  had  no  terror  for  so  old  a  warrior  ; 
he  crossed  the  Mississippi  with  a  group  of  "  young 
men"  in  the  spring  of  1832,  and  marched  up  the 
Eock  Eiver,  with  the  aim  of  effecting  a  union  with  his 
former  allies  of  that  region.  Governor  Eeynolds,  of 
Illinois,  issued  a  proclamation,  calling  out  the  militia ; 
and  the  United  States  authorities  ordered  Colonel 
Atkinson  to  move  with  a  strong  force  in  the  direction 
of  Dixon,  111.,  on  Eock  Eiver,  twenty  miles  from  its 
mouth.  The  militiamen,  under  command  of  Colonel 
Whiteside,  had  reached  the  designated  ground  first, 
on  May  6,  1832.  At  this  rendezvous  there  appeared 
also  two  battalions  of  horsemen  led  by  Majors  Still- 
man  and  Bailey,  who  were  restless  for  the  fray.  Per 
mission  was  given  them  to  proceed.  Finding  Black 
Hawk  and  his  forces  at  Old  Man's  Creek,  near  by,  they 
advanced  with  no  order  or  concerted  plan,  and  soon 
met  the  enemy,  killing  two  or  three  of  them  without 
difficulty.  By  this  time  the  party  was  much  scattered 
and  as  jubilant  as  though  they  were  on  a  fox  chase. 
Black  Hawk,  .suddenly  rallied  his  men  and  struck  a 
blow  that  brought  consternation  to  the  volunteers ; 
the  Iliinoisians  began  to  run.  The  run  became  a  rout, 
and  there  was  no  halting  them  until  they  reached 
Whiteside' s  camp,  whence  they  had  come  so  expect 
antly  a  few  hours  before.  Eleven  of  their  number  had 
been  killed  and  but  for  their  fleet-footed  horses,  it 
would  have  been  a  wholesale  massacre.  Black  Hawk 


ON  THE  WESTEEN  BOEDEE  37 

and  his  followers  then  drew  off  to  avoid  the  larger 
white  force,  and  began  raiding  and  scalping  wherever 
unprotected  settlements  were  found.  By  this  time  both 
the  Illinois  volunteers  and  the  United  States  regulars 
saw  that  there  was  serious  work  ahead. 

Black  Hawk  was  followed  up  later  in  the  summer 
and  defeated,  on  July  21st,  near  the  falls  of  the  Wis 
consin.  From  here  the  broken  ranks  of  the  Indians 
retreated  in  disorder  toward  the  Mississippi.  They 
were  attacked  near  the  great  river,  in  what  is  called 
the  battle  of  the  JSad  Axe,  on  August  3d,  and  utterly 
routed.  Their  chief  escaped ;  but  being  reported  as 
still  roaming  about  the  border,  Lieutenant  Davis  was 
sent  with  a  detachment  of  troops  to  an  island  in  the 
Mississippi,  a  few  miles  above  Fort  Crawford,  to  cap 
ture  the  remnant  of  the  savages.  From  his  own  ac 
count,1  a  band  of  Indians  was  discovered  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  island  and  they  approached  their  pursuers 
under  cover  of  a  white  flag.  They  proved  to  be  friendly 
Winnebagoes,  and  said  that  they  had  captured  Black 
Hawk,  whom  they  now  proposed  to  surrender.  Davis 
accepted  the  offer  and  led  the  old  chieftain  to  Colonel 
Taylor's  headquarters,  the  Winnebagoes  following  to 
claim  a  reward  from  the  United  States  for  their  serv 
ices.  Black  Hawk  was  willing  that  they  should  enjoy 
the  honor  of  his  capture  and  receive  whatever  might  be 
awarded  them.  Davis  then  conducted  the  fallen  hero 
with  about  sixty  of  his  braves  to  Jefferson  barracks  at 
St.  Louis.  Cholera  broke  out  among  the  captives  on 
their  way  down  the  river  and  some  of  the  victims 
begged  to  be  put  off  to  die  together  on  land.  Davis 
yielded  and  two  poor  fellows  were  left  ashore  in  a 

1  Letter  of  his  in  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  141. 


38  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

dying  condition,  the  stronger  trying  to  minister  to  the 
needs  of  his  weaker  companion.  The  lieutenant  de 
livered  his  prisoners  and  returned  to  his  post. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Davis  was  first  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  problem  of  state  versus  national 
loyalty.  He  says  in  a  speech  on  the  Compromise  of 
1850 l  and  Mrs.  Davis  repeats  the  statement  in  her 
book,2  that  the  rumor  of  the  conflict  with  South 
Carolina  on  the  question  of  nullification  reached  the 
army  and  that  the  regiment  to  which  he  belonged 
would  probably  be  sent  to  Charleston,  in  the  event  of 
open  hostilities.  His  own  words  will  best  set  forth 
his  position,  as  he  viewed  it  in  1850:  "Then,  much 
as  I  valued  my  commission,  much  as  I  desired  to  re 
main  in  the  army,  and  disapproving  as  much  as  I  did  the 
remedy  resorted  to,  that  commission  would  have  been 
torn  to  tatters  before  it  would  have  been  used  in  civil 
war  with  the  state  of  South  Carolina."  He  then  goes 
on  to  add  that  the  circle  of  officers  in  which  he  moved 
had  the  same  conception  of  their  duty.  How  much 
of  this  is  the  sentiment  .of  1850  cannot  be  ascertained. 
One  of  his  friends,  Thomas  F.  Drayton,  of  South 
Carolina,  would  certainly  have  resigned  his  commis 
sion,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  all  had  the  same  feel 
ing  on  the  burning  question  of  1832-33.  The  prob 
ability  is  that  Davis  remembered  and  correctly  reported 
the  views  of  himself  and  his  fellows  ;  but  there  were 
j  other  reasons  than  those  of  states'  rights,  per  se,  which 
1  may  have  unconsciously  played  a  part  at  that  time. 
While  Davis  had  been  brought  up  to  honor  Jackson, 
he  and  his  friends  of  West  Point  were  none  too  fond 

1  Congressional  Globe,  31st  Cong.,  1st  sess.,  July  13.  1850. 
*  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  pp.  89-90. 


ON  THE  WESTEEN  BOEDEE  39 

of  the  sturdy  backwoods  President,  whose  popularity 
had  not  become  universal,  and  whose  appeal  to  the 
"gallery"  was  not  taken  as  the  vox  Dei — certainly  not 
with  high-bred  officialdom. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  a  regi 
ment  of  dragoons  was  formed  and  added  to  the  regular 
service.  Henry  Dodge  of  Iowa  was  made  the  colonel 
of  the  new  organization.  Davis  was  promoted  to  the 
position  of  first  lieutenant  of  one  of  the  companies 
and  still  further  honored  by  being  appointed  im 
mediately  thereafter  adjutant  of  the  regiment— a 
choice  that  indicates  better  than  anything  else  what 
manner  of  man  he  was.  The  office  of  adjutant  of  a 
corps  of  troops  or  regiment  is  generally  filled  by  one 
who  is  proud  of  the  service,  punctilious  as  to  the  per 
formance  of  the  details  of  military  duty,  and  careful 
of  his  own  appearance  as  well  as  that  of  the  officers  and 
men.  He  is  besides  usually  possessed  of  a  clear,  ring 
ing  voice,  able  to  read  the  long  evening  reports  before 
the  regiment  in  such  a  way  that  every  one  may  under 
stand  them.  The  promotion  from  second  to  first  lieu 
tenant  was  indication  enough  of  the  success  of  Davis' s 
life  of  four  years  as  a  soldier ;  the  assignment  to  the 
new  regiment  of  horse  with  the  adjutancy  was  a  signal 
honor  and  was  so  regarded  by  his  fellow  officers. 

A  short  time  afterward,  he  was  detailed  as  a  re 
cruiting  officer  and  sent  to  Kentucky  to  collect  horse 
men  to  fill  the  ranks  of  the  new  organization.  He 
remained  a  little  while  in  Louisville  and  Lexington, 
renewing  the  acquaintances  of  former  days.  When 
engaged  on  this  mission  his  fibre  was  tried  rather 
severely  by  a  cholera  epidemic.  He  did  not  take  to 
flight ;  and  on  one  occasion  it  became  his  duty  to  bury 


40  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

the  remains  of  two  victims  of  the  disease,  which  he 
did  with  the  help  of  a  carpenter.  His  return  to  the 
garrison  at  Fort  Crawford  brought  him  again  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Galena,  111.,  and  Dubuque,  la.,  at 
which  latter  place  he  was  stationed  a  large  portion  of 
his  time.  Being  conveniently  located,  he  paid  fre 
quent  visits  to  his  friend  Jones  at  Sinsinawa.  It  was 
a  pleasant  year,  that  of  1833,  with  its  joy  in  successful 
work  and  its  occasional  relaxation  from  military  duty 
in  a  neighborhood  already  grown  dear  to  him  for  its 
associations. 

It  was  during  this  year,  too,  that  there  sprang  up  a 
devoted  attachment  to  Miss  Knox  Taylor,  daughter 
of  Colonel  Taylor  at  the  fort,  and  the  twenty-five-year- 
old  lieutenant  began  to  dream  of  the  felicities  of  mar 
ried  life,  and  to  think  of  becoming  the  head  of  a 
household.  His  advances  were  returned  by  the  young 
woman,  and  their  plans  were  beginning  to  mature, 
when  for  some  cause  or  other  the  stern  father  inter 
posed  his  authority  and  forbade  his  house  to  the  ardent 
lover. 

Colonel  Dodge,  with  a  select  company  of  his  dra 
goons,  was  sent  in  1834  to  Fort  Gibson  on  the  borders 
of  Arkansas  and  the  Indian  Territory  near  Eed  Eiver, 
Davis  accompanying  the  detachment.  The  policy  of 
the  government  to  collect  the  remnants  of  the  many 
tribes  of  Indians,  both  southern  and  northern,  in  this 
far-off  portion  of  the  country,  had  been  developing 
since  the  transfer  of  the  Cherokees  and  Creeks  from 
western  Georgia,  upper  Alabama,  and  Mississippi  to 
that  reservation.  Whether  Davis  desired  to  join  the 
commander  of  his  regiment,  or  whether  his  superior, 
Colonel  Taylor,  caused  him  to  be  selected  for  this  duty 


ON  THE  WESTERN  BORDER  41 

has  not  come  out  in  the  controversies  that  have  waged 
concerning  him  and  his  love  affairs.  It  would  have  been 
only  natural  for  the  father  of  Miss  Taylor  to  think 
that  a  long  stay  at  this  far  distant  post  might  cool  the 
ardor  of  her  suitor.  Whether  or  not  it  was  by  design 
that  he  was  sent  on  this  mission,  it  is  most  likely  that 
Davis  regarded  it  in  this  wise  and  began  to  lay  his 
plans  to  defeat  the  parental  scheme.  At  any  rate,  it 
was  here  that  the  young  man  passed  his  last  years  in 
the  United  States  Army.  However  he  may  have  felt,  a 
long  confinement  to  this  remote  post  was,  to  one  who  had 
become  soundly  attached  to  the  Fort  Crawford  neigh 
borhood,  cause  enough  to  suggest  the  idea  of  a  resigna 
tion.  There  was  no  longer  any  prospect  of  war,  and 
he  had  served  more  than  the  term  of  years  required  to 
repay  the  government  for  his  training  at  the  academy. 
After  a  year  and  a  half  at  Fort  Gibson,  he  tendered 
his  resignation  on  June  30,  1835,  and  thus,  in  what 
seemed  to  outsiders  rather  hasty  action,  severed  his 
connection  with  the  army  whose  service  he  had  cer 
tainly  loved.  His  experiences  had  been  very  varied. 
He  had  manifested  decided  capacity  for  successful  t^r 
military  command ;  and  his  talent  for  management, 
and  for  ready  decision  in  emergencies,  had  been  clearly 
developed.  His  habits  had  been  temperate  and  self- 
restrained,  with  a  tendency  to  books  and  the  scholarly 
life. 

Miss  Taylor  was  as  much  displeased  at  her  father's 
decision  as  the  young  man  himself;  and  after  his 
transfer  to  Fort  Gibson,  she  spent  most  of  her  time 
near  Lexington,  Ky.,  at  the  home  of  Colonel  Taylor's 
sister,  who,  judging  from  subsequent  events,  was  more 
favorably  inclined  to  the  suit.  In  all  probability, 


42  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

Davis  saw  his  fiancee  when  occasion  offered  j  for, 
when  he  resigned,  they  were  married  at  once,  leaving 
time  to  heal  the  breach  with  the  father.  The  young 
couple  traveled  by  way  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
boats  to  his  brother's  plantation  in  Warren  County, 
where  arrangements  were  speedily  made  for  them  to 
establish  a  home  of  their  own.  In  lieu  of  the  negroes 
his  father  had  left  him,  Joseph  Davis  gave  Jefferson 
a  tract  of  a  thousand  acres  adjoining  his  own  estate. 
A  house  was  built  and  land  cleared  for  the  coming  cot 
ton  season.  Here  a  new  life  begins  for  Davis,  — that 
of  the  cotton  planter  of  the  far  South. 

Many  stories  of  his  marriage  have  been  told  and  one 
cannot  be  sure  that  the  statement  given  above  is  abso 
lutely  correct.  It  is  the  account  which  the  majority 
of  reliable  evidence  supports.  Mrs.  Davis,  in  the 
Memoir  of  her  husband,1  offers  his  own  version,  which 
is  substantially  the  same  as  mine.  But  there  are  some 
slightly  contradictory  statements  in  the  chapter  which 
she  devotes  to  the  subject,  and  we  are  left  a  little  un 
certain  about  the  whole  matter.  All  accounts  but  one, 
that  of  George  W.  Jones,  agree  that  the  father  was 
never  reconciled  to  the  match ;  that  he  never  saw 
his  daughter  again  ;  and  that  he  never  met  Davis  after 
his  transfer  until  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista  in  1846. 
Why  he  felt  so  incorrigible  an  aversion  to  the 
young  man  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  The  reason 
which  the  son-in-law  gave  was  that  the  colonel  was  in 
veterate  in  his  likes  and  dislikes  and  that  antagonism 
for  any  one  once  acquired  was  never  eradicated  from 
his  mind.  We  know  that  Taylor  was  positive  and  de 
cided  enough  in  his  way  of  thinking.  But  this  hardly 
1  Vol.  I,  p.  162. 


ON  THE  WESTEEN  BOEDER  43 

accounts  for  his  persistent  attitude.  Davis  also  says,1 
that  a  disagreement  over  a  trivial  matter  coming  up 
in  a  court-martial  of  which  both  were  members,  was 
the  beginning  of  the  trouble.  The  explanation  is  at 
the  expense  of  Taylor's  good  sense  and  cannot  be  ac 
cepted.  Mrs.  Davis  states  that  it  was  Taylor's  objec 
tion  to  his  daughter's  becoming  a  soldier's  wife — like 
wise  a  rather  poor  excuse,  since  we  find  a  little  further 
on  that  they  were  not  reconciled  when  Davis  was  no 
longer  in  the  army.  So  leaving  his  relations  with  his 
father-in-law  thus  unsatisfactorily  touched  upon,  let 
us  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  exceedingly  interesting 
young  couple. 

The  husband  and  wife  began  life  together  reso 
lutely.  They  bought  ten  negro  slaves  with  money 
lent  them  by  the  ever  kindly  brother  and  in  the 
spring  of  1836  a  crop  of  cotton  was  planted  on  the 
rough  new  land  " cleared  up"  during  the  preced 
ing  winter.  Davis  worked  with  his  own  hands  and 
directed  personally  and  through  his  trusty  foreman, 
James  Pemberton,  the  labor  of  the  fields.  A  promis 
ing  harvest  was  approaching  when  the  "  chill  and 
fever"  season  came  on.  Not  being  acclimated  and  to 
escape  the  added  dangers  of  living  on  a  freshly -cleared 
plantation,  he  left  the  responsibility  of  the  estate  to 
Joseph  Davis  and  moved  down  the  river  with  his  wife 
to  the  home  of  a  sister,  Mrs.  Luther  Smith,  near  Bayou 
Sara  in  southeastern  Louisiana. 

Both  fell  seriously  ill  and  could  not  be  informed  of 
each  other's  condition.  A  few  days  later,  September 
15,  1836,  Mrs.  Davis  died,  singing  a  favorite  air.  Sus 
pecting  a  fatal  result,  the  husband  had  crept  unob- 
1  See  J.  W.  Jones's  memorial  volume  on  Davis. 


44  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

served  from  his  bed  to  that  of  his  wife  and  there  wit 
nessed  the  inexpressibly  sad  scene.  They  laid  away 
her  remains  in  the  Smith  burying  ground,  where  she 
awaits  the  last  summons  in  a  lonely  grave.  There  is 
nowhere  a  record  of  Colonel  Taylor' s  feelings  on  this 
trying  occasion.  The  greatest  bereavement,  however, 
was  that  of  the  young  army  officer,  whom  she  had  ac 
companied  to  this  far-off  region.  Davis  slowly  recov 
ered  and  returned  in  mid-October  to  the  deserted  plan 
tation,  only  to  leave  it  again  in  search  of  health  and 
oblivion  of  his  sorrow. 

He  visited  New  Orleans  in  the  early  winter ;  whence 
he  sailed  to  Havana  and  the  island  of  Cuba,  the  resort 
of  the  invalid  and  grief-stricken  of  that  day.  Three 
weeks  were  spent  in  the  balmy  southern  seas,  with  salt 
water  baths  daily  ;  and  he  was  much  improved  at  the 
end  of  his  visit.  Without  acquaintance  or  companion, 
except  his  faithful  James,  he  wandered  about  ancient 
Havana,  strolled  through  the  suburban  plantations 
with  their  mediaeval  ways,  and  watched  the  drilling 
of  the  Spanish  garrison,  recalling  as  it  did  his  own 
chosen  vocation.  His  bearing,  combined  with  the  fact 
that  he  had  been  seen  sketching  with  pencil  these  re 
freshing  scenes,  suggested  to  the  jealous  authorities 
that  the  slender  but  military  form  of  the  invalid  was 
none  other  than  that  of  a  spy  from  the  neighboring  re 
public  whose  covetous  eye  had  so  long  sought  a  means 
of  getting  possession  of  the  Pearl  of  the  Antilles.  He 
was  forbidden  to  approach  the  fortifications  of  the  city 
and  his  footsteps  were  henceforth  carefully  followed 
day  by  day. 

A  little  later,  still  an  invalid,  with  none  too  bright 
an  outlook  upon  the  world,  he  sailed  for  New  York, 


ON  THE  WESTERN  BOEDEE  45 

whence  he  took  up  his  journey  to  Washington  to  re 
new  his  acquaintance  with  his  boyhood  friend,  George 
W.  Jones,  now  a  member  of  Congress  from  Michigan. 
He  was  heartily  welcomed  to  a  Congressional  "  mess  " 
near  East  Capitol  Street,  at  that  time  a  favorite  portion 
of  the  city  with  our  national  lawmakers.  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  power  and  influence, 
Franklin  Pierce,  an  unassuming  Eepresentative  from 
New  Hampshire,  Senator  William.  Allen  of  Ohio,  and 
John  J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky,  were  members  of  the 
group.  Davis  entered  at  once  into  the  spirit  of  this 
interesting  coterie  of  historic  figures.  With  them  he  at 
tended  the  sessions  of  Congress,  took  part  in  their  recre 
ations,  and  not  seldom  appeared  at  social  gatherings  in 
the  homes  of  important  members  of  the  administration. 

Pierce  and  Davis  became  friends,  together  called  on 
Van  Buren,  the  new  President,  and  later  breakfasted 
at  the  White  House.  No  decided  impression  was  made 
on  the  mind  of  the  ardent  Mississippian,  for  we  find 
him  attributing  to  Van  Buren  only  the  arts  and  tricks 
of  the  politician,  which  we  now  know  was  not  a  correct 
estimate.  The  President  understood  the  weakness  of 
his  guest  well  enough,  however,  to  pay  a  delicate 
compliment  to  his  dress.  Both  were  punctilious  in 
such  matters.  The  impression  which  Davis  records  in 
his  later  writings  was  due  to  the  events  of  1844  to  1848 
rather  than  to  the  present  visit.  What  the  President  on 
his  side  thought  of  the  young  soldier-planter  does  not 
appear. 

Crittenden  and  Allen  took  Davis  to  a  reception 
given  by  Joel  E.  Poinsett,  the  new  Secretary  of  War. 
Poinsett  was  a  South  Carolina  unionist,  in  bitter  op 
position  to  the  recent  nullification  schemes  of  Eobert 


46  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Barnwell  Bhett  and  Calhoun.  It  would  have  been 
natural  for  Davis  to  have  declined  this  invitation,  had 
he  been  in  1833  such  a  states'  rights  man  as  he  was 
later  represented.  The  company  at  Secretary  Poin- 
sett's  was  jovial.  Wine  flowed  freely  and,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  custom  of  the  time,  most  of  the  guests 
drank  too  much  for  their  own  safe  home-going. 
George  W.  Jones,  who  was  also  present,  left  Davis, 
Crittenden,  and  Allen  at  their  cups  at  a  late  hour, 
with  the  assurance  that  they  would  follow  later. 
Probably  two  hours  afterward  a  great  noise  in  the 
"mess"  aroused  him  and  a  Dr.  Linn,  who  resided 
in  the  house.  Davis  was  found  to  be  severely  wounded 
on  the  head.  He  was  unconscious  and  bleeding  pro 
fusely,  but  after  receiving  the  attention  of  the  physi 
cian,  he  seemed  not  to  be  in  a  dangerous  condition. 
He  had  fallen  with  Allen  into  the  Tiber,  an  uncovered 
stream  which  used  to  wash  the  foundations  of  the 
American  Capitol  as  its  namesake  encircled  the  walls 
of  government  in  ancient  Eome.  The  senator  had 
proven  a  bad  guide  and,  reeling  off  the  narrow  bridge, 
had  pulled  his  companion  after  him.  On  the  following 
morning  Davis  was  again  found  unconscious  ;  and  it 
was  only  after  much  effort  that  he  was  restored.  In 
his  weakened  state,  the  excitement  and  accident  of  the 
previous  evening  had  proven  well-nigh  fatal.  After 
another  season  of  nursing,  the  invalid  was  once  more  on 
his  feet  and  ready  to  return  overland  to  his  home. 
This  story,1  which  has  been  preserved  by  Mrs.  Davis 

1  Given  in  Mrs.  Da  vis's  Memoir  of  her  husband,  Vol.  I,  pp.  167-168; 
also  in  Life  and  Reminiscences  of  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and  Jefferson 
Davis  by  Bradley  T.  Johnson ;  and  in  an  address  by  George  W. 
Jones  delivered  in  Kichmond,  1893. 


ON  THE  WESTEEN  BOEDER  47 

and  was  repeated  on  the  solemn  occasion  of  the  reinter 
ment  of  Davis' s  remains  in  Hollywood  Cemetery, 
Eichmond,  is  retold  to  show  how  men  lived  in  Wash 
ington  in  1837,  and  also  to  give  the  reader  a  possible 
clue  to  his  political  opinions  at  that  time.  There  is  no 
mention  of  Calhoun  by  any  of  the  Davis  circle.  Benton 
was  certainly  most  hostile  to  him  ;  Crittenden  was 
hardly  more  friendly,  and  all  were  making  merry  in 
the  house  of  Calhoun' s  ablest  political  rival  in  South 
Carolina.  Indeed,  Poinsett  had  received  the  war 
portfolio  as  an  express  recognition  of  his  opposition  to 
the  great  milliner.  As  to  the  silent  impeachment  for 
drunkenness,  not  too  much  need  be  said.  There  was 
scarcely  a  statesman  in  Washington  in  those  days  who 
did  not  occasionally  require  assistance  on  his  way 
home  after  a  night's  carousal,  or  an  evening  with  some 
fashionable  family,  where  the  wine-cup  was  the  chief 
feature  of  the  entertainment.  Calhoun  himself  was  as 
conspicuous  for  his  abstinence  and  sobriety  in  matters 
of  drink  as  for  his  masterful  speeches  ;  but  he  was  per 
haps  the  only  really  prominent  figure  in  the  social  and 
political  life  of  the  capital  who  was  never  known  to 
drink  to  excess. 

With  the  opening  of  the  warm  spring  weather,  Davis 
returned  to  his  home  on  the  Mississippi,  somewhat 
restored  in  health  and  peace  of  mind.  He  took  up 
anew  the  work  of  a  planter  and,  with  the  unfailing  aid 
of  his  brother,  and  in  the  most  secluded  retirement, 
began  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  great  fortune  and  a 
greater  political  career.  Silently  he  went  about  his 
estate,  which  now  begins  to  be  known  as  "  Brierfield," 
clearing  new  lands,  building  houses  for  the  negro 
tenants  and  growing  cotton,  the  unfailing  source  of 


48  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

\    wealth  to    the    industrious  Southern  planter.     But, 

1  following  the  classic  example  of  the  master  of  "  Monti- 

\  cello, "  the  affairs  of  outdoor  life  alone  did  not  suffice 

I  for  the  maturing  mind  of  the  retired  army  officer  ;  the 

old  love  for  books  came  back  afresh  and  many  hours 

of  the  passing  days,  as  well  as  the  quiet   evening  - 

time,  were  spent  in  close  study. 


CHAPTEE  III 

LAYING    THE    FOUNDATIONS 

DAVIS'  s  reading  was  done  in  the  library  of  his  brother 
Joseph,  where  the  best  English  magazines  were  always 
at  hand  ;  where  the  great  American  newspapers  of  the 
day,  the  National  Intelligencer,  the  Eichinond  Enquirer, 
and  the  Charleston  Mercury,  together  with  the  Con 
gressional  Globe  and  the  local  journals,  were  regularly 
on  the  table  ;  where  also  the  current  literature  of  the 
time  was  to  be  found.     Joseph  Davis  was  the  leading 
philosopher  of  his  state,  the  ablest  member  of  the  first 
Mississippi  constitutional   convention  which  had  met 
in  1817,    a  gentleman  of  the  highest  integrity,  and 
an    arbiter    in    "  affairs  of    honor'7   throughout    the 
region.1    He  was  probably,  too,  the  wealthiest  planter 
in  his  state,  a  master  of  many  slaves  and  thousands  of 
acres  of  rich  river  lands.     Samuel  Davis,  the  father, 
had  been  a  follower  of  Thomas  Jefferson  in  the  conflict  f 
of  1800.     His  sons  succeeded  to  this  trend  of  thought,   j 
which  was  tempered  by  the  ripe  Eepublicanism  of 
Monroe,  and  rendered  conservative  by  the  steady  ac-   \  ti    f 
quisition  of  wealth.     They  were   aristocratic  Demo-  - 
crats  in  1837,  while  their  neighbors  were  mainly  Whigs  ( 
or  supporters  of  Henry  Clay,  in  the  long  contest  which    ; 
had  been  waged  between  this  ready  orator  and  sturdy 
1 '  Old  Hickory.  > '     The  counties  around  Vicksburg,  the 
market  town  of  the  Davises,  were  dominated  by  the 

1  Reuben  Davis,  Recollections  of  Mississippi,  p.  79. 


1 


50  JEFFEBSOtf  DAVIS 

Whigs  before  1840  ;  but  the  state,  as  a  whole,  was 
overwhelmingly  Democratic,  though  not  quite  of  the 
Jackson  type. 

With  these  surroundings  and  with  this  outlook  on 
the  larger  life  of  the  nation,  Jefferson  Davis  took  up, 
with  his  learned  brother,  the  study  of  John  Locke, 
Adam  Smith,  Jefferson's  writings,  The  Federalist, 
Elliot's  Debates,  and  the  resolutions  and  debates  of 
Congress  and  the  Virginia  legislature  during  the  con 
troversy  over  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws.1  During  a 
\  period  of  eight  years,  this  unremitting  study  of  events 
and  of  the  great  Democratic  and  states'  rights  authori 
ties  continued.  The  picturesque  yet  bitter  contest  of 
1840  did  not  force  either  of  the  brothers  from  his  re 
tirement  or  cause  them  to  give  up  their  wonted  places 
by  the  fireside  of  the  il  Hurricane"  library. 

Young  Davis  found  time  also  for  Byron,  Burns  and 
Scott ;  for  Shakespeare,  Addison,  Steele,  and  Swift ; 
and  for  the  historical  works  of  those  prolific  years.  It 
was  indeed  an  admirable  combination  of  contemporary 
discussion,  the  heavy  constitutional  learning  of  the 
late  eighteenth  century,  and  the  English  classics, 
which  he  brought  to  realization  in  his  course  of  self- 
culture.  That  he  used  these  years  well  and  drank 
deep  from  the  fountains  of  literature  is  abundantly 
shown  in  his  speeches  in  Congress  and  before  his  con 
stituents.  There  was  a  fulness  and  maturity  in  his 
oratory  from  the  beginning  of  his  political  career 
which  impressed  every  one,  and  demanded  the  ap 
plause  of  such  discriminating  critics  as  John  Quincy 
Adams.2  Though  the  documentary  proof  of  these 

1  Letter  of  Mrs.  Davis  to  the  author,  March,  1905. 

2  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  245. 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  51 

years  of  quiet  study  perished  in  the  great  war  of  the 
sixties,  there  cau  be  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  well-in 
formed  that  Davis  was  equipping  himself  for  the  gather 
ing  battle.     He  became,  like  his  brother,  a  conserva 
tive  Democrat,  a  stanch  protagonist  of  states'  rights, 
an  unconfessed  opponent  of  the  Nestor  of  Democracy,*  l^ 
Jackson,  and  an  admirer  of  Calhoun.  ••-The  Bichmond 
Enquirer  and  the  Charleston  Mercury,  taken  together, 
interpreted  events  more  to  his  fancy  than  did  the 
stately  Intelligencer.     Unconsciously  he  was  shaping  1   H  j  j 
his  views  toward  radicalism  in  national  affairs  and  )  I 
conservatism  in  the  South,  contradictory  as  this  asser-J  /^ 
tion  may  appear. 

His  daily  round  of  life  was  not  unlike  that  of  other 
Southern  planters  of  means.  His  acres  were  broad 
and  the  number  of  slave-laborers  increased  annually. 
It  was  not  difficult  to  " make  money  "  in  those  "flush 
times'7  ;  but  the  income  was  mainly  spent  in  improve 
ments,  new  houses,  and  thoroughbred  horses.  No 
Southern  gentleman  was  content  with  less  than  a  half- 
dozen  of  the  most  expensive  thoroughbreds ;  Davis  kept 
a  dozen.  Carriages,  too,  must  be  provided  and  negro 
coachmen  trained. 

"  Davis  Bend  "  was  a  peninsula  in  the  Mississippi,  . 
belonging  in  its  entirety  to  the  brothers.  To  ride  over 
these  magnificent  estates  was  no  easy  task  ;  to  repeat 
this  day  after  day  was  a  training  which,  since  it  was 
universal  in  the  South,  told  in  the  effectiveness  of  the 
Confederate  cavalry  twenty  years  later.  The  houses 
in  which  these  planters  lived  were  not  very  large  nor 
were  they  planned  on  any  extravagant  basis.  Simple 
one-and-a-half  or  two-story  buildings  with  four  or  six 
rooms  on  the  first  floor  and  two  or  four  on  the  second, 


52  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

there  was  enough  accommodation  for  any  family  and 
also  for  a  few  guests.  Spacious  halls  and  high  ceil 
ings  with  wide-spreading  verandas  gave  these  home 
steads  an  air  of  comfort  and  easy-going  contentment 
for  their  owners,  which  was  often  delusive.  Industry, 
enterprise,  and  thrift,  befitting  an  Anglo-Saxon  com 
munity,  were  far  from  being  rare  traits  in  young  and 
old  on  these  cotton  plantations.  The  planter  knew 
how  to  manage  his  labor,  to  market  his  products, 
and  invest  his  savings  so  that  these  lower  Southern 
states  increased  their  wealth  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
Between  1810  and  1840  Joseph  Davis  built  up  a  for 
tune  from  practically  nothing  to  an  estate  approach 
ing  a  million  dollars  in  value.  At  the  same  time 
he  spent  money  freely  in  travel,  in  horses,  and  for 
other  luxuries.  The  one  sin  of  these  ante  helium 
slave-owners  was  the  incorrigible  habit  of  ruining 
the  soil,  though  in  this  the  Davises  were  exceptions. 
Their  lands  lay  along  the  river  banks  and  were  so 
level  that  they  could  not  well  be  " washed  away" 
except  by  the  river  nor  could  their  fertility  easily  be 
exhausted. 

On  such  a  plantation  as  "  Brierfield  "  or  the  "  Hur 
ricane,'7  everything  needful  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
families  of  master  and  slaves  was  produced  except  the 
broadcloth,  linen,  and  silks,  used  in  making  the  cloth 
ing  of  the  owner's  family;  carriages,  machinery, 
and  silverware.  Otherwise  the  plantation  was  a  self- 
sustaining  social  unit  whose  director  and  law-giver 
was  always  the  head  of  the  household.  As  master  of 
such  an  estate  and  associate  with  his  brother  on  a  much 
larger  one,  Jefferson  Davis  emerged  from  this  period 
of  retirement  a  tried  executive,  which,  added  to  his 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  53 

scholarly  attainments  and  military  training,  made  him 
an  unusual  character,  one  to  whom  people  would 
readily  turn  for  leadership. 

Mississippi  Territory  had  gradually  grown  into  the 
state  of  Mississippi ;  Adams  County  with  the  old 
Spanish  town  of  Natchez  had  been  the  nucleus.  In 
1817,  when  the  first  constitutional  convention  as 
sembled,  the  total  population  was  less  than  seventy 
thousand,  exclusive  of  Indians.  Forty  thousand 
square  miles  of  prospective  territory  belonged  to  the 
Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  tribes ;  the  slave-holding 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  looked  to  Washing 
ton  for  the  maintenance  of  their  rights,  held  only  a 
narrow  triangular  strip  along  the  river,  beginning  at 
Vicksburg  on  the  north  and  extending  to  the  Louisiana 
boundary  on  the  south.  Adams,  Wilkinson,  and 
Amitie  were  the  dominating  counties  when  the  ter 
ritory  became  a  state. 

The  Missouri  contest  of  1820  quickened  the  slave- 
holding  South  into  a  realization  of  its  peculiar  posi 
tion  in  the  Union.  The  growing  of  cotton  was  a; 
stronger  economic  bond  than  the  political  ties  which  I 
held  the  states  together.  And  social  forms,  always 
greater  forces  than  they  have  been  allowed  to  be,  drew 
all  the  outlying  districts  of  this  unique  region  nearer 
to  one  another.  Close-fisted  and  yet  far-seeing  South 
ern  leaders  sketched,  as  early  as  1820,  the  boundaries 
of  the  coming  Confederacy  and  predicted  that  cotton- 
growing,  slave-labor,  and  common  social  customs  would 
be  the  basis  of  the  new  state.1  All  that  was  necessary 
for  the  South  of  1820  was  to  fill  up  the  rich  and  vast 
lands  which  stretched  from  the  James  to  the  Sabine, 
1  Dodd,  Life  of  Nathaniel  Macon,  pp.  319-320,  367. 


54  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

from  Charleston,  the  philosophical  centre  of  slavery, 
to  northwest  Missouri. 

Both  consciously  and  unconsciously  this  work  was 
entered  upon.  It  was  stimulated  by  the  sharp  and 
oppressive  industrial  and  financial  crisis  of  1819  to 
1822  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  North  Carolina.  The 
sons  of  well-to-do  planters  migrated  to  Alabama  and 
Mississippi,  carrying  with  them  whatever  capital  they 
could  collect,  and  even  a  great  many  older  heads  were 
enticed  away  to  the  new  country.  Land  in  the  far 
South  could  be  obtained  for  a  "song"  and  a  profit  of 
fifteen  per  cent,  could  be  speedily  realized  on  the  money 
invested.  On  the  other  hand,  land  in  Virginia  had 
lost  one- half  its  value,  and  where  planting  was  un 
profitable,  of  course  slaves  became  a  burden  on  their 
masters.  Eeal  estate  could  not  easily  be  disposed  of, 
but  negroes  could,  and  they  were  sold  in  large  numbers 
to  the  cotton  growers  of  the  Gulf  states. 1 

Between  1820  and  1840,  the  population  of  Missis 
sippi  increased  by  300, 000  souls,  and  the  property  val 
uation  was  many  times  greater  at  the  latter  than  the 
former  date.  The  long  strip  of  country  bordering  the 
Mississippi  had  widened  and  lengthened  at  the  cost  of 
the  Indians,  who  had  been  obliged  to  give  up  their 
hunting-grounds,  and  migrate  to  the  less  desirable 
lands  beyond  the  great  river.  This  drain  upon  the 
economic  life  of  the  old  South  was  so  heavy  that  even 
such  well-established  men  as  Jefferson  and  Madison 
came  near  being  forced  to  sell  their  estates.  The  slave 
markets  of  Eichniond,  Norfolk,  and  Wilmington  mani 
fested  a  feverish  activity.  Good  men  disliked  to  part 
with  their  slaves ;  but  the  constant  dread  of  bank- 
1  Richmond  Enquirer,  passim  ;  Collins,  The  Domestic  Slave  Trade. 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  55 

ruptcy  necessitated  their  disposing  of  property  that 
could  no  longer  be  made  profitable.  The  flower  of  the 
old  states  was  transplanted  to  the  new  ;  the  way  was 
preparing  for  this  section  to  enter  upon  the  leadership 
of  the  South  and,  for  a  while,  of  the  country.  Not 
only  were  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  called  upon  to 
make  large  contributions  to  the  upbuilding  of  Mis 
sissippi  and  Alabama,  but  also  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
and  Georgia.  Davis  says,  in  his  fragment  of  an  auto 
biography,  that,  in  his  boyhood  days,  the  population 
of  lower  Mississippi  was  composed  of  about  equal  parts 
of  emigrants  from  the  seaboard  states  and  the  recently 
settled  western  communities.  Such  a  mixture  of  the 
new  and  old  elements,  of  the  energetic  and  vital  forces 
of  the  South,  could  not  but  produce  important  results. 

The  extraordinary  prosperity  of  the  new  region  re 
acted  upon  the  political  views  of  the  mother  states. 
South  Carolina  declared  slavery  a  blessing  at  an  early 
date.  Jefferson  favored  the  institution  in  1820,  Madi 
son  lost  hope  in  the  cause  of  gradual  emancipation  by 
1830,  and  Chief-Justice  Marshall  defended  it,  as  he 
would  any  other  form  of  property,  long  before  his 
death  in  1835.  Calhoun  launched  his  scheme  of  slavery 
expansion  in  1837,  and  before  1840  the  South  was 
"solid77  for  the  indefinite  fixing  of  the  institution 
upon  the  country. 

The  building  of  these  commonwealths  on  their  firm 
economic  basis  of  cotton-growing  had  wrought  the 
change.  Slavery  was  a  necessity,  it  was  thought,  in 
these  states  j  it  was  therefore  not  only  not  wrong, 
per  se,  but  right  and  a  blessing.  This  idea  was 
championed  not  only  by  Southerners  but  by  almost 
every  newcomer  from  all  parts  of  the  country  :  Eobert 


56  JEFFEESOK  DAVIS 

J.  Walker,  one  of  the  ablest  champions  of  the  new 
Mississippi,  was  a  Peunsylvanian  ;  John  A.  Quitman, 
slavery's  militant  protagonist  from  1840  to  1858,  was 
a  New  Yorker.  And  it  was  indeed  an  excellent  civi 
lization  in  many  respects,  which  these  younger  sons  of 
the  South  built  on  the  black  and  apparently  impreg 
nable  foundation  of  negro  servitude.  The  Davis  home 
itself  was  a  fine  product  of  it ;  and  these  thoughtful 
students  of  things  political  and  literary,  the  aristo 
cratic  owners  of  "  Hurricane"  and  "Brierfield,"  were 
then,  and  would  be  now,  an  honor  to  their  day  and 
generation.  The  whole  South  was  made  up  of  men  of 
the  same  type  in  1850,  with  slight  variations  in  the 
different  localities. 

Another  phase  of  this  Mississippi  life  must  be 
sketched,  if  we  would  understand  the  almost  boundless 
opportunities  and  the  discouraging  limitations  of  Jef 
ferson  Davis  when  he  emerged  from  the  great  sea  of 
obscurity  in  1844.  With  land  rapidly  going  up  in 
value,  negroes  rising  faster  still,  and  the  world  looking 
more  and  more  to  this  region  for  its  necessary  supply 
of  cotton,  it  is  not  unnatural  that  the  spirit  of  specula 
tion  should  seize  the  people,  and  sweep  off  their  feet 
the  best  of  their  leaders. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  century,  the  Territory  of 
Mississippi  had  incorporated  the  Bank  of  Mississippi. 
After  the  territory's  admission  into  the  Union  in  1818, 
its  capital  was  augmented,,  and  the  name  of  the  insti 
tution  was  changed  to  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Mis 
sissippi.  At  the  same  time  the  corporation  was  given 
a  monopoly  of  the  banking  privileges  in  the  state,  with 
power  to  establish  branches  in  the  various  towns.  The 
rapid  growth  of  population  and  wealth  brought  a 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  57 

strong  demand  for  the  withdrawal  of  these  franchises 
or  the  foundation  of  rival  institutions.  Consequently 
in  February,  1830,  the  Planters'  Bank  of  Mississippi 
was  created.  Its  capital  stock  was  $3,000,000,  of 
which  the  state  itself  subscribed  two-thirds.  Thus 
the  public  became  responsible  for  the  losses  of  creditors 
and  depositors  in  proportion  to  the  state's  share  of 
the  capital.  In  order  to  pay  for  this  stock,  bonds 
were  issued  and  sold  during  the  next  two  years  to  the 
amount  of  $2,000,000,  the  rate  of  interest  being  five 
per  cent,  annually.  It  was  expected  that  the  dividends 
from  the  bank  would  pay  the  interest  on  the  bonds, 
for  whose  security  quite  naturally  the  faith  of  the 
commonwealth  was  pledged ;  that  is,  the  state  be 
came  indebted  to  the  extent  of  two  million  dollars  in 
order  that  a  new  bank  might  be  opened.  The  institu 
tion  did  a  successful  business  without  loss  to  any  one 
until  the  general  panic  of  1837.  This  taste  of  the 
sweets  of  high  finance  only  whetted  the  appetites  of 
certain  classes  of  the  population.  But  before  the 
mania  for  fictitious  riches  had  fairly  seized  the  people 
at  large,  a  new  constitution  was  adopted  in  which,  ac 
cording  to  the  Jeffersonian  dogma,  it  was  made  unlaw 
ful  for  the  legislature  to  pledge  the  faith  of  the  state 
for  future  payment  of  present  obligations,  except  after 
giving  public  notification  and  on  approval  of  two  suc 
cessive  assemblies. 

The  craze  for  banking  and  other  speculative  schemes 
was  not  to  be  stayed  by  mere  clauses  of  a  constitution, 
drawn  up  too  in  1832  before  men  knew  the  joys  of 
paper  wealth.  Had  not  the  United  States  govern 
ment  set  them  the  example  and  stimulated  them  by 
promising  large  deposits  on  favorable  terms?  And 


58  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

were  not  all  the  states  of  the  North  and  West  getting 
rich  by  similar  methods?  Abraham  Lincoln,  as  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  legislature,  was  showing  his 
people  how  to  run  his  state  into  debt,  as  he  thought, 
without  danger. 

In  addition  to  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Mississippi 
and  the  Planters'  Bank,  with  its  three  millions  of 
capital  and  its  branches  in  the  various  trade  centres, 
still  a  third  institution  was  incorporated  in  1837  under 
the  name  of  the  Union  Bank  of  Mississippi.  The 
capital  stock  was  placed  at  $15,500,000,  to  be  sold  by 
the  directors  to  the  people,  the  income  of  the  colossal 
establishment  being  promised  pro  rata,  to  the  sub 
scribers.  Citizens  of  other  states  were  forbidden  by 
law  to  hold  stock.  To  secure  these  shares,  the  state 
issued  five  millions  in  five  per  cent,  bonds  to  the  bank 
directors,  who  were  to  dispose  of  them  in  the  markets 
of  the  world,  appointing  at  the  same  time  several  of 
the  directors  as  a  guarantee  that  her  interests  would 
be  safeguarded.  These  bonds  were  redeemable  at 
short  intervals.  The  remaining  ten  millions  of  bonds 
authorized  by  law  were  left  to  be  sold  or  held,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  bank.  The  five  millions  were 
purchased  by  Nicholas  Biddle,  Jackson's  "monster" 
bank  president,  who  resold  many  of  them  in  Eng 
land.  When  this  good  news  reached  Mississippi, 
bonfires  were  kindled  and  torchlight  processions  in 
stituted  in  the  leading  towns  as  though  some  auspicious 
national  event  were  to  be  celebrated.  The  great  bank 
opened  its  doors  at  the  capital  in  1839  ;  and  branches 
were  established  soon  after  throughout  the  state. 

All  this  was  done  in  a  community  of  350, 000  people 
and  during  the  panicky  years  of  1837  to  1840.  In- 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  59 

deed,  it  was  a  part  of  the  program  to  relieve  men  of 
their  financial  difficulties.  Stock  was  sold  on  credit, 
liens  on  real  estate,  slaves  or  cotton  being  accepted  in 
lieu  of  more  substantial  collateral.  Thus  property  of 
uncertain  value  was  made  to  yield  certain  dividends 
without  its  sale  and  in  addition  to  regular  crops. 
Money  which  the  state  collected  for  its  bonds  or  which 
the  bank  received  on  deposit  or  for  stock  was  loaned 
to  insolvents  on  the  promise  of  payment  of  interest 
and  one  eighth  of  the  principal  each  year  for  eight 
years.  Everybody  was  trying  to  "get  rich  "  with  the 
aid  of  the  government ;  and  to  do  so  two  successive 
legislatures  and  two  governors  endorsed  this  extrava 
gant  scheme  so  that  the  terms  of  the  constitution  might 
be  complied  with.  In  three  years  the  debt  of  the  state 
had  been  increased  to  nearly  seventeen  millions  at  an 
annual  interest  of  almost  a  million — a  per  capita  in 
debtedness  of  more  than  forty-five  dollars.  The  total 
income  of  Mississippi  to-day  with  a  population  three 
times  as  great  is  scarcely  more  than  was  then  voted 
annually  for  the  maintenance  of  the  banking  schemes 
of  1839.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  of 
this  interest  was  payable  in  London,  i.  e.,  in  gold. 
Did  ever  an  Anglo-Saxon  community  take  such  risks 
or  so  certainly  invite  bankruptcy  ? 

In  1841  Governor  McNutt  declared  in  his  annual 
message  that  both  the  Planters'  and  Union  Banks  were 
insolvent;  that  the  latter  bank  had  $4,000  in  good 
money  and  that  its  immediate  liabilities  were  more  than 
$3,000,000.  He  recommended  the  repudiation  of  all 
those  bonds  which  had  been  sold  to  Biddle,  on  the 
ground  that  the  transaction  was  not  in  exact  accord 
ance  with  the  law  of  the  state  and  because  the  charter 


60  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

of  the  United  States  Bank  of  Pennsylvania  forbade 
the  purchase  of  bonds  other  than  those  of  the  United 
States  government  and  of  Pennsylvania.  The  legis 
lature,  be  it  said  to  its  credit,  was  almost  unanimously 
of  the  opinion  that  the  bonds  should  not  be  repudiated. 
The  Democratic  state  convention — and  the  Democrats 
had  been  responsible  for  the  Union  Bank  scheme — met 
a  few  days  after  this  sensational  message  was  published, 
but  not  a  word  was  said  about  the  bonds  or  the  interest 
due  on  them.  The  Whig  party,  on  the  other  hand, 
took  decided  and  high  ground,  declaring  that  the 
debt  was  lawful  and  must  be  redeemed.  Before  the 
campaign  had  far  advanced,  it  was  clearly  evident 
that  Democratic  success  would  mean  repudiation. 
That  party  was  victorious  in  the  election  which  followed 
and  the  Union  Bank  bonds  were  declared  void  and 
worthless ;  even  those  of  the  Planters'  Bank  were 
canceled  in  the  same  way  some  years  later.  Great  ex 
citement  prevailed  during  the  "repudiation"  cam 
paigns,  and  most  men  of  wealth,  generally  in  the 
older  counties,  voted  for  the  validity  of  the  recent  ex 
travagant  acts  of  the  legislature.  Some  even  offered 

ivately  to  aid  in  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  the 
state ;  but  nothing  came  of  their  efforts  and  Missis 
sippi'  s  credit  was  permanently  impaired. 

Both  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  brother  Joseph  opposed, 
as  was  natural  for  wealthy  men  to  do,  all  these  wild 
banking  schemes  j  though  neither  of  them,  seems  to 
have  hazarded  his  popularity  by  heading  a  party  revolt. 

As  the  test  year  of  1844  approached,  another  and 
even  more  important  matter  was  absorbing  the  minds 
of  Southerners,  particularly  of  the  Mississippians  :  the 
proposed  annexation  of  Texas.  That  state  won  her 


T 

/sis 

v« 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  61 

independence  from  Mexico  in  the  year  1836,  under 
the  leadership  of  a  favorite  of  President  Jackson  ;  the 
new  constitution J  was  drawn  up  and  signed,  with  two 
exceptions,  by  Americans  who  had  not  been  very  long 
naturalized.  It  made  provision  for  property  in  slaves, 
notwithstanding  that,  under  Mexican  rule,  slavery  had 
been  formally  abolished.  Mexico,  however,  in  the 
early  forties,  had  not  recognized  the  independence  of 
her  erstwhile  quarrelsome  province.  It  was  but 
natural,  under  these  circumstances,  that  leading 
Texans  should  favor  annexation  to  the  United  States. 
Formal  application  had  been  made  in  1836,  and  in 
1837  Calhoun  espoused  the  cause.  He  declared  again 
and  again  that  the  United  States  had  improperly  and 
unwisely  assented  to  the  "  restoration "  of  that  vast 
region  to  Spain  in  1819  in  part  consideration  for 
Florida,  although  he  himself  had  been  a  member  of 
the  administration  thus  assailed. 

The  election  of  Harrison  and  Tyler  was  a  blow  to 
the  Texas  propaganda  ;  but  the  succession  of  the  Vice- 
President  turned  the  scales.  A  "  Texas"  man,  Abel 
P.  Upshur,  of  Virginia,  was  called  to  the  State  Depart 
ment  in  place  of  Webster.  Thomas  Eitchie,  editor  of 
the  Eichmond  Enquirer,  took  up  the  matter  and  Vir 
ginia  was  added  to  South  Carolina  in  the  campaign 
for  the  "  Lone  Star77  state.  Upshur  was  accidentally 
killed  by  the  explosion  of  a  gun  on  the  warship 
Princeton  in  February,  1844.  Tyler  had  long  been  at 
odds  with  Calhoun,  but  in  the  following  March,  the 
astute  Virginia  politician,  Henry  A.  Wise,  found  a 
way  to  get  the  South  Carolinian  into  the  cabinet  for 
the  express  purpose  of  annexing  Texas,  peaceably  if 
1  Of.  Garrison,  Texas  in  American  Commonwealth  Series. 


62  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

possible,  by  warlike  methods  if  necessary.  By  this 
time  Mississippi  and  Alabama  had  become  as  ardent 
annexationists  as  South  Carolina  had  ever  been.  In 
1836  Mississippi  had  sent  a  company  of  volunteers, 
under  the  command  of  John  A.  Quitman,  to  the  aid  of 
Sam  Houston  in  the  bitter  war  against  Santa  Anna. 
Though  these  would-be  liberators  did  not  take  part  in 
the  contest,  they  returned  to  Natchez,  to  work  in  the 
state  like  the  proverbial  leaven  in  the  lump  until 
public  sentiment  was  in  complete  ferment. 

Calhoun  proceeded  to  his  great  task  and  completed  it 
in  a  short  time,  submitting  a  treaty  of  annexation  to 
the  Senate  for  ratification  in  April,  1844.  The  Whig 
Senate  rejected  his  work,  and  he  and  the  President 
began  to  lay  plans  for  the  accomplishment  of  their 
ends,  despite  the  opposition.  Meanwhile  the  politi 
cians  who  controlled  the  party  machinery,  the  "  bosses  " 
of  that  day,  were  brought  face  to  face  with  the  popular 
issue  in  the  approaching  presidential  convention. 

The  Eichmond  Enquirer  and  its  clique  of  wire 
pullers  desired  annexation,  but  they  also  longed  for  a 
Democratic  victory.  Tyler  and  Calhoun,  without  whose 
assistance  success  was  impossible,  were  unpopular  in 
the  North.  Van  Buren  was  therefore  Eitchie's  candi 
date  for  the  Democratic  nomination  ;  but  he  opposed 
annexation  and  was  consequently  unacceptable  to  the 
South.  To  force  the  New  Yorker  into  line  and  to  unite 
the  Northern  with  the  Southern  Democrats,  a  letter 
from  the  sage  of  the  "  Hermitage, "  Andrew  Jackson, 
bearing  date  1843,  was  now  published  as  if  written  in 
1844.  The  great  ex-President  urged  annexation. 
Still  Van  Buren  could  not  be  coerced  and  Calhoun  be 
came  the  logical  candidate.  Eitchie  feared  defeat 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  63 

with  such  a  leader,  and  the  convention,  in  the  hands 
of  the  annexationists,  arranged  their  program.  They 
held  out  the  expansion  of  the  Northwest  to  the 
followers  of  the  able  and  popular  Lewis  Cass  of 
Michigan,  an  old  Jacksonian  war  horse.  "Bean- 
nexation  of  Texas  and  the  reoccupation  of  Oregon ' ' 
were  made  the  slogans  of  the  convention.  It  being 
thought  impossible  to  elect  any  really  distinguished 
man  of  pronounced  views  from  either  North  or  South, 
James  K.  Polk,  a  popular  Tennesseean  of  fair  experi 
ence,  was,  to  the  surprise  of  the  country,  made  the 
standard-bearer  of  Democracy.  This  left  Tyler  and 
Calhoun  to  themselves,  which  was  nothing  new  to  the 
latter  who  had  never  been  a  good  party  man.  How 
had  Polk  gained  the  support  of  the  South  and  made 
himself  acceptable  to  the  delegates  of  the  Northwest  ? 

This  was  the  work  of  United  States  Senator  Bobert 
J.  Walker,  the  wizard  of  Mississippi,  a  leader  in  the 
party  of  repudiation  in  1841,  a  bankrupt  himself  half 
his  life,  but  an  able,  far-seeing  politician  who  some 
times  approached  the  dignity  of  a  statesman.  Walker 
controlled  his  own  state.  He  made  an  alliance  with 
Thomas  Bitchie  and  the  Enquirer ;  Simon  Cameron  of 
Pennsylvania  also  joined  him  ;  Bancroft  and  the  Massa 
chusetts  politicians  yielded  ;  and  with  these  influences 
behind  him,  he  was  able  to  bring  the  Northwest  to 
favor  Texas  and  to  accept  Polk  as  the  candidate  of  the 
party. l  It  was  this  i '  whiffle "  of  a  man,  this  stooping, 
diminutive,  wheezy-voiced  leader,  of  < '  vaulting  ambi 
tion,"  who  first  brought  the  dynamic  forces  of  Missis- 

1  Claiborne,  Reminiscences  of  Mississippi,  Vol.  I,  pp.  415-423 ;  the 
Vicksburg  Sentinel  of  Feb.  1,  1845,  speaks  of  Walker  as  the 
"  lion  "  of  Mississippi  politics. 


64  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

sippi  to  bear  on  national  affairs.  He,  it  was,  who  did 
most  in  the  South  to  discard  Calhoun,  leave  Tyler 
stranded  high  above  the  water's  edge, — and  yet  "  an 
nexed  "  Texas.  He,  too,  was  responsible  indirectly  for 
the  first  appearance  of  Jefferson  Davis  in  national 
politics. 

Unlike  the  bank  issue  this  new  policy  of  his  parly 
appealed  strongly  to  Davis.  He  was  ready  to  commit 
himself  publicly  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  he 
was  not  supported  by  his  more  powerful  brother. 

In  1843,  the  Whigs  had  a  fair  chance  of  electing  the 
legislature  of  Mississippi  and  reversing  the  shameful 
policy  of  the  Democrats  on  the  subject  of  repudiation. 
The  famous  Sargent  S.  Prentiss  was  the  champion  of 
the  party  and  the  bitter  assailant  of  the  Democratic 
program.  Somehow  the  Whigs  of  Warren  County 
permitted  two  of  their  representatives  to  enter  the  race 
for  the  state  House  of  Eepresentatives.  Their  com 
mon  opponent  who,  under  these  extraordinary  circum 
stances,  should  have  had  a  fair  chance  of  election,  was 
a  weak  candidate  and  withdrew  in  due  season.  Jef 
ferson  Davis  took  his  place  and  undoubtedly  began  a 
vigorous  campaign,  although  he  does  not  admit  as 
much  in  his  own  account.  He,  in  common  with  his 
Whig  neighbors,  had  opposed  his  party  on  the  repudi 
ation  of  the  Union  Bank  bonds,  holding  that  they 
were  state  obligations  whose  value  ought  to  be  deter 
mined  by  the  courts.  As  the  judiciary  was  then  con 
stituted,  this  was  tantamount  to  saying  that  they 
should  be  paid.  With  such  a  Democrat  in  the  canvass, 
Whigs  might  as  well  desert  their  own  divided  party 
and  vote  for  him. 

Davis7 s  rival  opponents,  however,  "made  up"  their 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  65 

differences,  leaving  only  one  candidate  in  the  field 
against  him.  This  meant  certain  defeat  in  his  first 
race  for  political  honors,  but  he  did  not  give  up 
the  struggle.  On  election  day  Prentiss  was  to  speak 
against  the  Democrats.  Davis  met  him  in  the  court 
yard  at  Yicksburg,  dangerous  as  it  was  to  do  so,  and 
one  of  the  great  discussions  of  Southern  politics  took 
place,  not  to  the  entire  discomfiture  of  the  ambitious 
young  aspirant.  The  debate  continued  through  the 
better  part  of  the  day  with  a  result  for  Davis  not 
unlike  that  of  John  Eandolph  against  Patrick  Henry 
at  Charlotte  court-house  in  1798.  He  was  hence 
forth  a  man  of  mark  in  Mississippi,  being  looked 
to  by  the  Democratic  managers  as  a  strong  leader  in 
a  forlorn  section  of  the  state.  Thus  equipped,  sur 
rounded  by  a  growing,  ambitious  community,  he  de 
voted  himself  to  the  better  life  of  his  country.  A 
friend  of  slavery  and  a  follower  in  a  vague  way  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  he  stood  ready  to  enter  upon  the 
crusade  which  leading  Mississippians  were  inaugu 
rating  on  behalf  of  the  expansion  of  the  South. 

This  work,  as  it  was  planned  by  Calhoun  and  put 
into  a  practical  party  program  by  Eobert  J.  Walker, 
was  intended  to  widen  the  area  of  slavery  at  the  ex 
pense  of  Mexico  and  Spain.  The  first  object  was  to 
annex  Texas  before  any  plan  of  emancipation  could  be 
put  into  effect  there  ;  the  second  was  to  get  possession 
of  Cuba  and  other  islands  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  To 
this  end  Calhoun  worked  in  Washington  in  the  year 
1844  as  he  had  never  worked  before  ;  and  Tyler  formed 
the  first  joint-resolution  scheme  to  override  an  oppos 
ing  Senate.  Mississippians,  proving  themselves  more 
practical  leaders  of  the  people,  as  already  explained, 


66  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

laid  the  large  plans  which  brought  the  Democracy  to 
their  view  and  then  secured  such  enthusiastic  support 
from  the  uncertain  Northwest  that  the  election  turned 
in  favor  of  Polk  as  against  the  "  peerless  leader"  from 
Kentucky, — the  vacillating  opponent  of  annexation. 
This  was  an  imperialist  plan ;  it  gave  birth  to  the 
contagious  ambitions  of  the  succeeding  decade. 

What  did  Davis  have  to  do  with  the  far-reaching 
movement  ?  He  j  oined  the  ardent  Mississippi  political 
crusaders,  who  had  control  of  the  Democratic  machine 
and  who  proposed  to  lift  the  local  party  out  of  its 
dangerous  dalliance  with  repudiation  and  turn  its  face 
toward  Washington.  Walker  was  the  master  of  this 
group  of  aggressive  Democrats.  He  was  aided  by 
John  A.  Quitman,  the  famous  Henry  S.  Foote,  the 
later  Senator  A.  G.  Brown,  and  Jacob  Thompson,  all 
young  men  of  power  and  none  too  scrupulous  as  to 
methods. 

Davis  was  a  member  of  this  active  body ;  he  was, 
however,  a  Calhoun  man  who  sought  to  gain  his  end  by 
pledging  the  delegates  to  his  favorite  as  a  second 
choice,  knowing  certainly,  through  Walker's  wire 
pullers,  Ritchie,  and  others,  that  Van  Buren  could 
not  be  nominated.  Indeed,  it  was  already  decided 
that  the  two-thirds  rule  should  be  adopted  in  order 
to  defeat  the  ex-President.  Davis  failed  to  accomplish 
his  purpose,  but  he  was  later  made  a  Polk  and  Dallas 
elector,  thus  coming  into  full  cooperation  with  the 
Walker  machine.  He  now  for  the  first  time  visited 
all  the  counties  of  the  state,  speaking  for  the  princi 
ples  and  measures  of  his  party.  He  proved  a  strong 
and  popular  orator.  The  success  of  this  canvass 
practically  closed  the  repudiation  issue,  turned  the 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  67 

local  party  toward  greater  things,  gave  him  a  reputa- ) 
tion  which  must  ere  long  bring  him  high  political  j 
honors  and  made  Walker  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  ( 
It  was  a  strange  stroke  of  fortune  that  the  man  who 
did   most   to   rain   Davis  in  the  day  of  his  tragic 
greatness,  should  have  brought  him  into  the  larger  af 
fairs  of  his  state  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for  the 
coming  bitter  rivalry. 

While  engaged  in  the  canvass  of  1844,  his  mother 
died  at  the  home  of  his  sister,  who  lived  on  the  old 
Woodville  estate.  At  the  same  time  he  was  address 
ing  Miss  Varina  Howell  of  Vicksburg— the  grand 
daughter  of  Governor  Howell  of  New  Jersey,  and  a 
very  brilliant  young  woman,  who  soon  became  his 
wife  and  who  ever  afterward  aided  him  in  the  dis 
charge  of  his  public  duties.  Her  family  was  prominent 
in  the  Whig  party  and,  like  Lady  Washington,  could 
not  at  first  realize  how  a  gentleman  and  a  Democrat 
could  be  united  in  the  same  person.  Davis  overcame 
these  obstacles  and  in  the  end  probably  proved  as  much 
of  an  aristocrat  as  even  a  Howell  could  desire.  The 
bridal  tour  took  them  to  New  Orleans,  and  to  the  fa 
mous  St.  Charles  Hotel,  where  they  met  the  fashionable 
society  of  the  Creole  city.  They  returned  after  a  few 
weeks  to  "Brierfield,"  their  favorite  home  until  the 
war  cast  them  adrift  and  gave  occasion  for  the  looting 
of  the  fine  old  place. 

The  next  summer,  as  a  sort  of  reward  for  his  useless  \ 
campaign  of  1843,  and  his  expensive  canvass  as  an  ; 
elector  in  1844,  Davis  was  brought  forward  as  a  logical  | 
candidate  for  the  national  House  of  Eepresentatives.  | 
To  the  surprise  of  the  party  leaders,  he  openly  an 
nounced  his  opposition  to  the  Democratic  attitude  on 


68  JEFFEESCXN  DAYIS 

repudiation,  tlie  one  live  local  issue.1  But  there  was 
possibly  some  method  in  this  madness.  He  hoped  to 
add  weight  to  the  ticket  in  northwestern  Mississippi. 
Strongly  to  censure  this  feature  of  Democratic  rule  was 
not  likely  to  lose  him  as  many  votes  as  it  would  gain. 
The  "organization"  probably  did  not  approve  of  this 
sort  of  contempt  for  their  authority ;  but  they  feared 
to  make  an  issue  of  it.  When  the  nominating  conven 
tion  met,  there  was  little  chance  of  defeating  so  popu 
lar  a  candidate,  especially  since  Davis  commanded  a 
powerful  social  "backing"  in  some  of  the  Whig 
counties.  He  was  chosen  without  a  contest.  The  can 
vass  he  made  was  undoubtedly  a  vigorous  one  ;  in  view 
of  the  future  of  the  young  leader,  it  is  unfortunate  that 
no  reports  of  his  speeches  have  been  preserved.  He 
was  elected  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Bepre- 
sentatives  in  the  following  December. 

In  the  autumn  of  1845,  Calhoun  who,  in  the  mean 
while,  had  been  advising  his  friends  not  to  accept  office 
in  the  Polk  administration,  made  a  tour  of  the  South 
and  West  as  far  north  as  Cincinnati.  He  was  received 
with  enthusiasm  such  as  few  Presidents  have  aroused. 
In  Mobile,  in  Montgomery,  and  in  Memphis  he  spoke 
to  vast  crowds. 

When  he  reached  Vicksburg,  Jefferson  Davis  was 
fittingly  appointed  to  present  the  speaker  in  a  short 
address.  The  Mississippian  was  much  concerned  about 
Calhoun7 s  strange  advocacy  at  Memphis  of  a  new  plan 
of  internal  improvement ;  he  could  not  bring  himself 
to  refer  to  this  subject,  though  it  was  the  topic  of  con 
versation  in  every  gathering.  Nevertheless,  the  intro 
duction  passed  off  smoothly  and  Calhoun  made  another 

1  Memoir,  pp.  204-205. 


LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  69 

of  his  logical  Southern  and  states'  rights  speeches, 
without  reference  to  the  improvement  of  the  "inland 
seas,"  says  Mrs.  Davis,  who  was  present  and  a  most 
interested  auditor.1 

The  day  after — late  in  November — Davis  and  his 
wife  set  out  for  Washington,  going  by  way  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  and  Ohio  Eivers  as  far  as  the  boats  could  take 
them.  The  remainder  of  the  journey  was  made  by 
stage-coach.  They  reached  the  capital  in  time  for 
the  opening  of  Congress  and  took  lodgings  at  the 
National  Hotel,  where  Polk  had  stopped  when  he 
came  on  for  the  inauguration.  Calhoun,  reflected  to 
the  Senate  by  his  faithful  South  Carolina,  tarried  a 
while  at  his  home,  making  clear  to  himself  the  policy 
which  he  would  pursue  relative  to  the  threatening 
crisis. 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  pp.  211-213. 


CHAPTEE  IV 

A  DANGEROUS  ISSUE 

THE  new  theatre  in  which  Davis  was  to  play  so 
tragic  a  role  was  just  now  the  centre  of  a  dangerous 
agitation.  The  Democratic  party  had  shrewdly 
gauged  public  opinion  when  it  emblazoned  "  Texas 
and  Oregon"  upon  its  banners  ;  the  country  gave  it 
a  free  hand.  The  President  was  commissioned  to  "  re- 
annex"  Texas  and  to  "reoccupy"  Oregon;  both  the 
Senate  and  the  House  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Demo 
crats.  But  the  bold  language  of  a  popular  campaign 
is  not  appropriate  in  international  relations.  To  in 
corporate  Texas,  even  after  the  events  of  early  1845, 
was  to  "  assume"  the  responsibility  for  a  war  with 
Mexico,  of  which  no  one  could  foresee  the  outcome ; 
to  seize  the  whole  of  Oregon  as  rightfully  belonging  to 
the  United  States  when  the  American  government  had 
admitted  a  partnership  with  England  since  1818  was 
a  still  more  dangerous  policy.  The  leaders  of  the 
Democratic  party  had  placed  themselves  in  a  very 
serious  attitude.  The  people  had  been  taught  that 
their  rights  were  coextensive  with  their  cupidity  ; 
they  had  been  influenced  to  believe  that  neither 
Mexico  nor  England  would  fight,  or,  if  they  should, 
that  Americans  could  march  unimpeded  either  to  the 
Mexican  capital  or  to  the  frigid  zone.  Elected,  then, 
with  such  high  hopes,  these  same  teachers  of  the 
public  were  now  confronted  with  the  consequences  of 
their  radical  but  popular  plans. 


A  DANGEKOUS  ISSUE  71 

Besides  these  perfectly  obvious  difficulties,  others 
were  certain  to  arise.  If  Congress  annexed  a  region 
to  the  Southwest  in  which  slavery  had  already  been 
planted — a  region  several  times  larger  in  area  than  all 
New  England — what  would  be  the  effect  on  the  North 
ern  Democracy  ?  The  Northwest  might  possibly  be 
content  with  her  equivalent,  Oregon ;  but  not  so  the 
populous  East  and  North.  Might  not  the  party  lose 
its  hold  on  such  states  as  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
by  whose  loyalty  it  had  won  all  its  victories  since 
Jefferson's  election  in  1800?  The  East  and  North 
were  unwilling  that  five  or  six  new  slave  states  should 
be  brought  into  the  Union,  for  the  reason  that  the/ 
Senate  would  then  be  permanently  in  the  hands  of? 
men  who  represented  slave-holding  interests.  Such  a 
condition  would  consolidate  hostility  to  slavery  b^ 
making  its  continuance  equivalent  to  Northern  politj 
ical  bondage  ;  that  is,  the  North's  preponderant  popuf 
lation  and  wealth  could  never  suffice  to  secure  he^ 
control  of  the  national  government.  Could  the  Soutl} 
thus  risk  the  alienation  of  its  old  friends  ? 

The  President  in  his  inaugural  message,  in  March, 
1845,  had  embarrassed  gray-heads  in  the  party  by  al 
most  defiantly  proclaiming,  as  he  had  done  during  the 
campaign,  that  the  American  claim  to  all  of  Oregon  was 
unquestionable.  He  repeated  this  declaration  when 
Congress  assembled  ;  and  matters  were  speedily  made 
worse  by  the  resolutions  of  Senator  Allen  of  Ohio, 
calling  for  a  formal  notification  of  England  that  our 
partnership  as  existing  since  1818  was  dissolved, 
which  practically  meant  war,  because  "reoccupa- 
tion"  was  supposed  to  follow  this  proposed  "  notifica 
tion." 


72  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Davis  entered  Congress  amid  these  trying  and  deli 
cate  circumstances.  He  at  once  made  friends  with  the 
group  of  leaders  from,  the  South,  some  of  whom  were 
soon  to  desert  him,  though  they  later  regained  his 
confidence  and  then,  finally,  did  most  to  ruin  him 
when  all  were  embarked  on  the  dangerous  and  stormy 
sea  of  Southern  independence.  William  L.  Yancey, 
Eobert  Barnwell  Ehett  and  Jefferson  Davis  were  the 
younger  leaders  of  this  extraordinary  school  of  South 
ern  politicians.  Calhoun  was  their  prophet,  and  he 
now  planned  a  larger  imperialism,  which  should  win 
all  the  ends  aimed  at  in  the  Democratic  national  con 
vention  in  Baltimore  while  not  endangering  the  exist 
ence  of  the  Union.  For  this  he  had  yielded  at  Mem 
phis  his  beloved  strict  construction  theories,  and 
advocated  Clay's  vast  scheme  of  internal  improve 
ments,  adding  even  the  suggestion  that  the  national 
government  should  aid  in  the  building  of  railways 
connecting  the  north  central  with  the  south  central 
states  and  finding  an  outlet  to  the  Atlantic  at  Charles 
ton. 

What  the  great  South  Carolinian  proposed  appeared 
'at  once  reasonable  to  Davis,  Ehett,  and  Yancey,  ex 
cept  they  were  not  certain  that  even  he  could  win  all 
Oregon  for  the  Northwest  without  war,  and  for  this 
alternative  they  would  in  no  wise  accept  respon 
sibility. 

Had  Calhoun  been  retained  as  Secretary  of  State,  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  he  could  have  secured  both 
Texas  and  Oregon  without  involving  the  country  in 
war.  He  would  have  given  in  to  Mexico  on  minor 
points  and  delayed  a  solution  of  the  English  question 
tintil  he  was  ready  to  assume  a  bold  policy.  Then 


A  DANGEEOUS  ISSUE  73 

having  become  a  second  time  a  believer  in  broad 
national  powers,  he  could  have  realized  some  of  his 
plans  enunciated  or  suggested  at  Memphis  by  yielding 
large  expenditures  of  public  moneys  in  the  North  or 
perhaps  granting  a  fair  protective  tariff.1  The  presi 
dency  could  no  longer  have  been  denied  him  and  the 
ambition  of  a  long  and  remarkable  career  would  have 
been  satisfied. 

Yancey  and  Ehett  were  not  men  of  Calhoun's  calibre. 
They  insisted  that  Texas  should  at  once  fall  into  the 
lap  of  the  Union,  for  the  benefit  of  their  own  section. 
Ehett,  in  his  famous  paper,  the  Charleston  Mercury, 
began  to  decry  the  Oregon  policy,  and  labored  to 
prove  that  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  that  region 
was  a  humbug ; a  he  did  what  he  could  to  call  down 
upon  the  heads  of  the  Democratic  leaders  the  charge 
of  Punic  faith,  already  finding  a  place  in  the  more 
acute  journals  of  the  North  and  West.  Yancey  was 
an  ally  of  his.  Both  made  insulting  and  useless 
speeches,  Ehett  declaring  that  the  North  was  voting 
for  "  notification, "  in  order  to  win  the  Northwest  from 
the  South ;  and  Yancey  insisting  that  war  with  Eng 
land  would  result  in  the  loss  of  Oregon  and  the  gain 
ing  of  Canada,  a  poor  exchange  from  the  viewpoint  of 
radical  Southerners. 

Davis  made  his  first  set  speech  in  Congress  on  this 
resolution.  He  manifests  here,  in  his  early  efforts 
as  a  legislator,  some  of  the  larger  views  of  national 
life  and  development  which  have  been  so  persistently 
ignored  by  those  who  have  chronicled  his  career. 

*As  Everett  was  urging  him  to  do:   Report  Amer.  Hist.  Asa'n, 
1899,  Vol.  II,  p.  1081. 
2  See  Washington  Union,  Nov.  17,  1845. 


74  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

First  he  did  what  few  other  members  of  the  House 
had  the  industry  and  patience  to  do, — examined  all 
the  available  authorities  on  the  subject,  going  back  to 
Cook's  and  Dixon's  voyages,  and  closing  with  a  very 
respectful  and  sensible  use  of  Gallatin's  recent  public 
letter  on  Oregon  and  the  present  crisis.1  The  wild  and 
unreasoning  appeal  to  arms,  the  jingoist's  boast  of 
recent  months,  he  deprecates  as  positively  harmful. 
He  then  manifests  his  West  Point  spirit  in  the  plea  for 
a  little  better  preparation  for  hostilities  before  too 
much  bragging  is  indulged;  " the  cry,  l the  whole  of 
Oregon  or  none,  now  or  never, '  "  leads  directly  to  our 
ruin.  As  to  the  declarations  of  the  Baltimore  platform 
he  says:  "Some  advocates  of  this  immediate  notice 
have  urged  their  policy  by  reference  to  the  Democratic 
Baltimore  Convention  and  contended  that  the  question 
was  thereby  closed  to  the  members  of  the  Democratic 
party.  That  resolution  does  not  recommend  imme 
diate  notice,  but  recommends  the  '  reannexation  of 
Texas  and  the  reoccupation  of  Oregon  at  the  earliest 
practicable  period.'  The  addition  of  territory  to  our 
Union  is  a  part  of  the  Democratic  faith,  and  properly 
was  placed  in  the  declaration  -of-  our  policy  at  that 
time."2  He  goes  on,  however,  to  justify  Southern 
haste  in  regard  to  Texas,  as  contrasted  with  his  will 
ingness  for  delay  in  Oregon,  because  the  former 
Mexican  province  is  further  advanced  and  more  inti 
mately  identified  with  American  interests,  all  of  which 
was  true,  though  unquestionably  he  saw  a  reason  for 
the  eagerness  of  his  section,  that  he  did  not  care 

1  Published  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  about  this  time,  but  not 
republished  in  Gallatin's  works. 

2 Twenty-ninth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Feb.  6,  1846. 


A  DANGEKOUS  ISSUE  75 

to  state  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives.     The  final  /) 
gentle  hint  to  the  Executive  to  act  wisely  manifests  a  / 
disposition  to  cajole  those  who  are  not  his  positive! 
opponents,  into  the  adoption  of  what  he  regards  as  the 
best  policy. 

There  was  much  of  the  sophomoric  element  in  this 
first  speech  ;  something  of  insincerity,  too,  but  he  was 
supporting  Calhoun's  larger  plans,  and  was  not  anti- 
national,  desiring  to  conciliate  the  North  rather  than 
defy  it,  as  Ehett  and  l^ncej^werTalready  doing.  Be 
sides,  Davis  had  a  personal  acquaintance  with  many  of 
the  Western  leaders, — the  Dodges  of  Iowa  and  Wis 
consin,  and  George  W.  Jones.  And  he  himself  was 
animated  with  some  of  the  buoyant  and  boundless 
patriotism  of  the  Northwest. 

Two  abuses,  already  grown  common  in  Washington,  \ 
received  the  attention  of  the  young  Mississippi  mem-  j 
ber  before  the  close  of  this  short  term  of  the  House.  | 
Internal  improvements  for  local  purposes  or,  as 
Stewart,  a  representative  from  Pennsylvania,  put  it, 
to  "  cement  the  union,"  received  scant  courtesy.  On 
March  16,  1846,  Davis  narrowly  examined  the  items 
of  the  current  Eiver  and  Harbor  Bill,  finding  that  the 
representatives  from  Illinois  and  Michigan  had  com 
bined  to  procure  appropriations  for  certain  localities 
with  small  regard  to  the  national  benefit.  St.  Louis 
and  Lexington  had  both  succeeded  in  getting  their 
hands  into  the  Treasury  under  the  terms  of  the  bill. 
Davis  held  that  these  methods  of  "  log-rolling "  the 
nation's  money  into  private  or  local  pockets  was  un 
worthy  of  honorable  men.  When  asked  if  he  did  not 
lend  his  own  support  to  appropriations  for  Mississippi's 
benefit,  he  retorted  sharply  that  he  would  ask  for  noth- 


76  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

ing  which  could  not  be  justified  in  the  minds  of  men 
living  most  remote  from  the  locality ;  he  would  not 
ask  even  for  this,  if  he  were  compelled  to  vote  for 
some  of  the  appropriations  carried  by  the  general  bill 
on  this  subject.  When  he  had  shown  the  need  of  re 
moving  certain  obstructions  in  the  Mississippi  Eiver, 
some  member,  bent  on  his  favorite  local  expenditure, 
interrupted  him  to  ask,  "  Will  you  vote  for  the  Lake 
appropriations?77  He  responded:  "Sir,  I  make  no 
terms.  I  accept  no  compromises.  If  when  I  ask  for 
an  appropriation,  the  object  shall  be  shown  to  be 
proper  and  the  expenditure  constitutional,  I  defy  the 
gentleman,  for  his  conscience'  sake,  to  vote  against 
it.  If  it  shall  appear  to  him  otherwise,  then  I  expect 
his  opposition,  and  only  ask  that  it  shall  be  directly, 
fairly  and  openly  exerted.  The  case  shall  be  presented 
on  its  single  merit ;  on  that  I  wish  it  to  stand  or  fall. 
I  feel,  sir,  that  I  am  incapable  of  sectional  distinction 
upon  such  objects.  I  abhor  and  reject  all  interested 
combinations.77  * 

Davis  then  attacked  the  protective  system  as  uncon 
stitutional,  because  special  in  design  and  operation. 
It  was,  he  maintained  with  much  force,  the  source  of 
most  of  the  abuses  in  the  Eiver  and  Harbor  Bill  appro 
priations  from  year  to  year.  Let  the  government  aid 
all  classes  by  releasing  them  from  duties  or  other  taxes 
not  absolutely  necessary  for  the  general  defense.  The 
least  government  possible  at  the  least  possible  cost  was 
the  ancient  Jefferson  dogma  which  he  resuscitated  at 
a  time  when  politicians  were  striving  to  make  the 
republic  a  mutual  benefit  society. 

At  the  close  of  his  remarks,  we  have  another  proof 
twenty-ninth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  March  16,  1846. 


A  DANGEROUS  ISSUE  77 

of  his  hopeful  optimism.     He  says  that  the  size  of  the 
Union  is  not  a  matter  of  concern  to  him  ;  that  loyalty./ 
unlike  gravity,  increases  the  further  one  goes  from| 
Washington ;  and  he  cites  his  experience  in  the  far \ 
West  and  the  lower  South  as  proof  of  his  assertion.  / 
"The  extent  of  our  Union  has  never  been  to  me  the 
cause  of  apprehension,"  said  he;  "its  cohesion  can 
only  be  disturbed  by  violation  of  the  compact  which 
cements  it."  l 

The  efforts  of  Calhoun  in  the  Senate,  aided  by  Davis 
and  others  in  the  House,  resulted  in  a  reduction  of  the 
demands  on  England,  so  that  what  remained  of  the 
Allen  resolutions  was  quite  inoffensive.  Great  Britain 
was  not  challenged.  With  the  Oregon  side  of  the 
crisis  passed,  what  would  become  of  the  Texas  em- 
broglio?  The  President,  not  Congress,  settled  this 
question  by  causing  the  American  army,  under  Colo 
nel  Zachary  Taylor,  to  threaten  the  Mexican  position 
on  the  Eio  Grande.  Hostilities  followed  as  a  matter 
of  course,  and  from  the  White  House  the  word  came 
to  Congress  early  in  April  that  war  already  existed 
and  called  for  troops.  Calhoun  arose  in  his  place  in 
the  Senate  and  demanded  to  know  the  authority  of  the 
Executive  in  usurping  the  rightful  powers  of  Congress ; 
Davis  made  a  similar  protest  at  the  same  time  in  the 
House.  The  South  Carolinian  continued  to  arraign 
the  President's  policy,  while  Davis,  parting  company 
with  his  greatly  admired  friend,  yielded  his  support 
to  the  war  and  deprecated  all  criticism  of  Taylor  and 
his  men  for  their  unnecessary  advance.  Ehett  became 
an  almost  bitter  opponent  of  Calhoun,  on  the  ground 
that  war  was  necessary  if  annexation  was  to  be  com- 
1  Twenty-ninth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  March  16,  1846. 


78  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

pleted,  and  annexation  was  already  an  ultimatum  of 
the  Southern  extremists.  They  would  go  to  war  with 
the  North,  it  was  openly  repeated,  if  this  new  region 
were  not  to  be  incorporated  into  the  Union.  Bhett, 
Yancey,  and  Davis  had  their  way  in  respect  to  Texas — 
the  result  need  not  be  anticipated. 

Having  favored  the  war,  the  Mississippian  was  selected 
to  command  the  first  regiment  enlisted  in  that  state, 
called  the  Mississippi  "  Bifles."  He  resigned  his  seat 
in  the  House  in  June  and  set  out  for  Jackson,  going 
thence  to  the  scene  of  active  hostilities.  Congress  had 
dallied  while  the  dangerous  crisis  came  on,  and  the 
Executive  seized  the  reins  and  drove  directly  into  war. 
The  country  was  left  to  judge  between  Calhoun  and 
Polk. 


CHAPTEE  V 

ONE   YEAR  OF  WAR 

THOUGH  the  circumstances  of  the  reconciliation 
are  not  known,  Zachary  Taylor  and  his  son-in-law 
appear  to  have  become  friends  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  with  Mexico.  The  young  Mississippian 
had  no  love  for  General  Scott.  How  natural  was 
it  then  for  the  commander  of  the  Mississippi  Bines  to 
have  had  an  understanding  with  the  President  that 
he  and  his  men  were  to  remain  with  Taylor  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  or  the  expiration  of  their  term  of 
enlistment. 

Davis  set  out  for  New  Orleans,  the  rendezvous  of  his 
regiment,  early  in  June,  1846.  After  a  short  stay  at 
"Brierfield,"  where  he  procured  a  trustworthy  serv 
ant  and  horses,  he  continued  his  journey,  embarking 
in  New  Orleans  on  the  Alabama  for  Brazos,  St.  lago, 
near  Port  Isabel  in  southeastern  Texas.  He  and  his 
troop  reached  there  August  2d,  and  were  immedi 
ately  encamped  for  some  weeks  of  hard  drill  such 
as  only  a  West  Pointer  knows  how  to  give.  They  oc 
cupied  a  neck  of  sandy  land  near  the  sea  and  were 
compelled  to  endure  the  hot,  sultry,  August  weather 
with  but  brackish  water  to  drink.  It  was  not  a 
pleasant  outlook  for  volunteers  whose  business  it  was 
"to  fight,"  not  always  to  be  preparing  for  the  con 
flict.  Sickness  afflicted  many  and  others  were  dis- 


80  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

illusioned ;  it  was  a  difficult  matter  to  maintain  dis 
cipline  and  keep  these  spirited  soldiers  in  harness. 

However,  Davis  was  popular  with  the  men,  many 
of  whom  had  enlisted  from  his  immediate  neighbor 
hood,  and  he  kept  the  regiment  together  and  in  good 
cheer.  On  August  12th,  they  marched  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Eio  Grande,  nine  miles  south.  Here  they  again 
encamped,  awaiting  means  of  transportation  up  the 
river  to  Camargo,  where  they  would  become  a  part  of 
Taylor's  "  army  of  invasion."  The  drilling  was  re 
newed,  much  to  the  regret  of  the  men  ;  but  at  last 
they  joined  Taylor,  and  were  pronounced  the  best 
trained  and  most  orderly  volunteer  troops  in  the 
army.1 

It  was  a  remarkable  organization.  The  privates 
were  men  of  wealth  and  high  social  standing.  They 
had  their  negro  servants  and  extra  provisions.  Their 
guns  were  of  a  new  model  and  proved  to  be  wonder 
fully  effective  in  battle.  Before  leaving  his  seat  in 
Congress,  Davis  had  insisted  that  his  regiment  should 
be  armed  with  rifles.  Later,  when  Secretary  of  War, 
he  introduced  into  the  regular  army  the  improved 
guns  he  now  used  in  the  Mexican  War  ;  and  they 
were  to  be  employed  later  in  the  Civil  War.  It  was 
a  good  regiment,  comprising  altogether,  with  com 
panies  full,  a  little  over  nine  hundred  men.  It  was 
indeed  a  welcome  addition  to  the  weakening  Amer 
ican  force  since  the  enemy  was  increasing  in  numbers 
daily. 

After  reaching  Palo  Alto,  Taylor  had  occupied,  with 
out  serious  resistance,  the  town  of  Matamoras  ;  he  now 
extended  his  lines  up  the  river  to  Camargo,  the  new 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  pp.  288-289. 


ONE  YEAE  OF  WAR  81 

base  of  supplies  for  the  army  of  invasion,  not  re 
linquishing  his  hold  on  Port  Isabel.  It  was  here  that 
he  selected  the  force  which  he  proposed  to  lead  in  the 
direction  of  Saltillo,  more  than  a  hundred  miles  dis 
tant  on  the  road  to  the  City  of  Mexico.  Taylor  com 
manded  now,  late  in  August,  1846,  12,000  men,  of 
whom  9, 000  were  volunteers,  enlisted  for  short  terms. 
Few  officers  of  the  regular  army  esteem  very  highly 
the  citizens  who  offer  for  short  terms.  Taylor  was  no 
exception  to  the  rule.  The  Mississippi  Rifles  had  en 
listed  for  a  year ;  they  reached  Camargo  about  Sep 
tember  1st  and  were  put  in  charge  of  Brigade  Com 
mander  Quitman,  who  panted  for  the  conflict.  It  was 
perhaps  due,  therefore,  to  Davis' s  military  training 
and  experience  in  the  West  that  this  brigade  was 
chosen  for  the  active  duties  of  the  advance  movement, 
for  Taylor  selected  only  6,000  men  for  this  purpose, 
leaving  the  other  6,000  for  guard  and  garrison  service 
at  the  various  points  already  seized. 

The  army  moved  southwestward  on  September  5th  ; 
two  weeks  later  they  approached  the  town  of  Monterey, 
which  was  one  hundred  miles  from  Camargo,  and  held 
by  10,000  troops  under  command  of  the  Mexican 
general  Ampudia,  who  was  in  high  favor  with  the 
restored  Santa  Anna.  The  latter  had  infused  a  new 
spirit  into  the  armies  of  Mexico,  and  it  was  with  every 
prospect  of  success  that  he  viewed  the  coming  battle. 
Monterey  was  strongly  fortified  and  the  American 
general  had  no  heavy  artillery.  Ampudia' s  army  was 
made  up  of  7,000  regulars  and  3, 000  recruits  ;  Taylor's 
advance  force  consisted  of  3,000  regulars  and  3,000  re 
cruits.  The  Mexicans  defended  their  homes  while 
he  had  penetrated  far  into  the  country  of  a  foe.  But 


82  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

the  attack  was  vigorously  made  on  September  21st. 
The  first  and  third  regiments  of  the  regulars  led  the 
fight.  Having  entered  the  town,  the  assailants  re 
ceived  a  galling  fire  from  public  squares,  barricades, 
and  private  house-tops.  Men  and  officers  were  waver 
ing  when  Taylor  hastened  a  much  stronger  force  into 
the  city  under  Butler  and  Quitman. 

Davis  now  had  the  opportunity  to  show  his  mettle. 
The  main  point  of  resistance  was  Fort  Teneria. 
Quitman,  Davis,  and  McClung,  Lieutenant- Colonel  in 
the  Mississippi  Bines,  made  an  irresistible  charge, 
carrying  everything  before  them,  and  seized  the  fort, 
which  they  held  for  two  hours  under  the  hottest  fire. 
A  second  fort  three  hundred  yards  farther  on  was 
attacked,  but  was  not  captured  that  day.  Night  came 
on  and  the  invaders  encamped  on  their  advanced 
ground.  During  the  same  day  General  Worth,  another 
of  .the  excellent  officers  who  commanded  under  Taylor, 
seized  the  line  of  Ampudia's  retreat  and  at  nightfall 
held  the  road  to  Saltillo.  On  September  22d,  the 
Americans  made  no  vigorous  forward  movement ;  but 
the  next  day  Worth  occupied  the  public  square  of  the 
town  and  by  evening  the  Americans  had  improved  their 
position  so  much  that  the  morrow  must  have  brought 
a  fearful  slaughter  but  for  Ampudia's  offer  to  treat. 
Taylor  accepted  the  proposal  and  appointed  three 
commissioners  to  agree  upon  terms. 

It  is  proof  enough  of  the  high  regard  in  which  Taylor 
now  held  Davis  to  know  that  the  young  Mississippian 
was  named  as  one  of  the  commissioners,  in  preference 
to  ranking  officers.  Ex-Governor  Henderson,  com 
manding  the  Texas  forces ;  General  Worth,  of  the 
United  States  Army,  and  Jefferson  Davis,  of  the 


ONE  YEAE  OF  WAE  83 

Mississippi  Eifles,  were  appointed  to  conduct  the 
negotiations.  It  was  agreed  that  Monterey,  its  forti 
fications,  cannon,  other  munitions  of  war,  and  all  public 
property  should  be  delivered  to  the  Americans.  In 
consideration  of  the  offer  to  surrender  without  further 
loss  of  life,  it  was  stipulated  that  the  Mexicans  should 
march  out  of  the  city  with  the  honors  of  war  and 
retire  beyond  a  line  in  the  rear  of  Saltillo,  forty  miles 
distant.  Both  parties  accepted  an  armistice  of  eight 
weeks,  time  enough  for  each  to  hear  from  the  home 
authorities. 

This  was  liberal  treatment ;  but  Ampudia  had  won 
it  by  hard  fighting  and  a  timely  surrender.  Besides, 
the  enemy's  strength  was  not  entirely  broken.  The 
losses  had  been  very  heavy  on  each  side,  and  it  was 
not  Taylor's  policy  to  exasperate  the  Mexicans  and 
bring  down  upon  himself  the  inveterate  hatred  of  the 
surrounding  population.  It  was  hoped  at  the  American 
headquarters  that  the  Mexican  government  would 
regard  this  vigorous  beginning  as  a  clear  manifestation 
of  the  purpose  of  the  United  States  and  would  now 
offer  to  make  terms  of  peace.  Davis  wrote  his  wife 
on  October  5th,  that  there  were  good  reasons  to  believe 
that  Mexico  would  soon  yield  and  withdraw  the  forces 
just  defeated  at  Monterey.  This  was  a  mistake. 
Santa  Anna  issued  a  proclamation,  saying  that  he 
would  yet  dictate  terms  to  the  enemy  on  the  banks  of 
the  Sabine. 

If  we  may  judge  from  certain  indications  and  from 
the  statements  in  the  letters  of  Mississippians  at  the 
front,  Davis  had  made  a  reputation  which  transcended 
that  of  any  other  officer  except  Taylor  himself.  One 
wrote  :  "If  the  time  of  our  regiment  expires  and  our 


84  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

colonel  even  then  thinks  that  we  could  be  useful,  there 
is  not  a  man  in  his  regiment  who  would  not  sacrifice 
his  life  to  obey  him,  so  much  has  his  gallant  conduct 
raised  him  in  their  estimation.  The  degree  of  power 
his  coolness,  courage,  and  discretion  have  acquired  for 
him  in  the  army  generally  would  hardly  be  believed 
at  home."  * 

But  the  politicians  in  Washington  were  not  pleased 
with  the  liberal  terms  made  with  the  enemy  at  Mon 
terey.  The  armistice  was  declared  to  be  abrogated, 
while  Taylor  was  ordered  to  assume  the  offensive. 
How  the  administration  meant  to  reward  him — he  was 
as  yet  the  only  victorious  commander  in  the  field — can 
best  be  judged  by  the  dispatches  which  now  began  to 
reach  him.  On  October  10th,  he  received  the  infor 
mation  that  one  of  his  subordinates,  General  Patterson, 
then  at  Camargo,  was  to  march  with  a  large  contingent 
of  the  troops  toward  Tampico ;  and  early  in  Novem 
ber  he  got  word  that  he  was  to  make  no  further  ad 
vance  movements,  but  to  fortify  himself  at  Monterey. 
At  the  same  time  Patterson's  army  was  definitely 
stated  to  be  4,000.  On  November  14th,  a  letter  from 
General  Scott  informed  Taylor  that  10,000  men  were 
to  be  taken  from  the  army,  and  that  lie  himself,  in 
stead  of  Patterson,  would  command  them.  The  ob 
jective  was  now  declared  to  be  Vera  Cruz.  Finally 
on  November  24th,  Scott  wrote  that  he  was  coming 
south,  not  to  supersede  Taylor  but  to  inarch  away  with 
his  men,  leaving  him  to  await  the  pleasure  of  Congress 
in  regard  to  raising  a  second  army. 

Was  ever  a  deserving  officer  so  badly  treated  ?    The 
administration  was  in  sore  straits  for  a  commander  of 
1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  308. 


ONE  YEAR  OF  WAR  85 

high  rank  who  would  not  become,  on  the  successful 
termination  of  the  war,  a  formidable  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  It  was  limited  in  its  choice  to  General 
Scott  and  his  next  ranking  subordinate,  both  of  whom 
were  known  to  be  Whigs.1  Following  the  Machiavel 
lian  principle  that  a  general  should  not  be  allowed  to 
grow  too  great.  Polk  and  Walker  thought  first  to  slight 
Scott,  and  advance  Taylor ;  but  when  the  latter  had 
won  his  second  battle  and  his  name  began  to  be 
mentioned  for  campaign  purposes,  they  turned  again 
to  Scott,  who  was  still  willing  to  go  in  person  to 
Mexico  and  reap  laurels,  the  seeds  for  which  had  al 
ready  been  sown  by  his  subordinate.  Scott  proposed 
that  an  army  should  be  collected  at  Yera  Cruz,  whence 
it  could  be  led  along  the  road  made  famous  by  Pizarro 
four  centuries  earlier,  direct  to  the  capital  of  Mexico. 
Undoubtedly  this  was  a  proper  plan  ;  Taylor  had  said 
as  much  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Senator  Crittenden. 
But  to  entrust  the  whole  movement  to  Scott,  after  the 
magnificent  campaign  just  completed,  was  little  less 
than  insulting  to  the  hero  of  Monterey. 

Happily,  Taylor  was  far  from  the  scene  of  intrigue 
and,  having  already  received  the  order  to  break  the 
armistice,  he  was  free  to  make  such  disposition  of  his 
forces,  now  15,000  if  Patterson's  division  be  included, 
as  he  deemed  best.  He  advanced  beyond  Saltillo, 
holding  the  country  on  the  seacoast  in  the  direction 
of  Tampico,  whither  Patterson  was  already  directed  to 
conduct  his  command.  Butler  had  beenleffc  at Camargo, 

1  Thnrlow  Weed's  letter  to  Taylor  seems  to  show  that  his  attitude 
in  politics  was  now  understood  to  be  favorable  to  the  Whigs. 
Autobiography  of  Thurlow  Weed,  I,  58,  quoted  in  Schouler,  Vol.  V, 
p.  22. 


86  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

with  the  greater  portion  of  the  army,  including  recent 
accessions,  under  his  immediate  supervision.  The 
country  between  the  Eio  Grande  and  Tampico,  ex 
tending  westward  to  Saltillo,  was,  by  the  end  of  De 
cember,  under  the  control  of  Taylor,  the  comniander- 
in- chief  being  at  Victoria,  the  capital  of  the  province 
of  Tarnaulipas,  near  the  seacoast,  almost  three  hundred 
miles  south  of  Camargo. 

General  Scott  now  executed  his  purpose  of  depriving 
Taylor  of  his  troops  and  without  a  conference  with  the 
latter,  ordered  Butler  to  put  in  motion,  for  Tampico, 
all  the  men  he  commanded,  adding  to  these  practically 
the  whole  Army  of  the  Eio  Grande.  These  move 
ments  were  being  effected  during  January,  1847.  But 
the  instructions  of  Scott,  relative  to  the  new  disposi 
tion  of  the  men  hitherto  operating  under  Taylor,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Santa  Anna,  who  at  once  prepared 
to  cut  off  the  remnant  of  the  force  and  compel  the  sur 
render  of  all  the  troops  remaining  on  the  advance  line 
of  Saltillo  and  Victoria.  It  was  a  great  opportunity 
for  the  Mexican  commander  and  he  embraced  it 
promptly. 

In  February,  Taylor  was  allowed  to  select  for  him 
self  a  regiment  of  volunteers,  Bragg' s  and  Washing 
ton's  batteries,  and  a  squadron  of  dragoons,  for  which 
service  the  Mississippi  Rifles  were  chosen.  To  this 
detachment  was  added  General  Wool's  little  Army  of 
the  Northern  Department  of  Mexico,  hitherto  an  in 
dependent  organization,  amounting  to  some  4,000 
volunteers.  During  the  early  days  of  February,  1847, 
Taylor,  with  his  small  force,1  marched  rapidly  to 
ward  Saltillo  to  effect  a  junction  with  Wool.  No 
1  Davis's  report,  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  315. 


ONE  YEAE  OF  WAR  87 

serious  attempt  was  made  by  Santa  Anna  to  prevent 
this  movement,  which  was  successfully  accomplished. 
Taylor  now  commanded  5,400  men  of  whom  less  than 
one-third  had  ever  been  under  fire.  On  February  22d, 
Santa  Anna  approached  the  American  position — a 
high  plateau  eight  miles  south  of  Saltillo.  His  army 
of  20,000  men  attacked  Taylor's  left.  A  regiment  of 
volunteers  was  in  full  flight  when  Davis  was  ordered 
forward  with  the  Mississippi  Eiflemen,  much  reduced 
in  numbers  on  account  of  losses  at  Monterey,  and  two 
extra  companies  detailed  for  this  special  duty.  He 
gives  an  account  of  his  day's  work  as  follows  :  * 

"This  position,  important  from  its  natural  strength, 
derived  a  greater  value  from  the  relation  it  bore 
to  our  order  of  battle  and  line  of  communication 
with  the  rear.  The  enemy,  in  number  many  times 
greater  than  ourselves,  supported  by  strong  re 
serves,  flanked  by  cavalry,  and  elated  by  recent 
success,  was  advancing  upon  it.  The  moment  seemed 
critical,  and  the  occasion  to  require  whatever  sacri 
fice  it  might  cost  to  check  the  enemy.  My  regi 
ment,  having  continued  to  advance,  was  near  at  hand. 
I  met  and  formed  it  rapidly  into  order  of  battle.  The 
line  then  advanced  in  double-quick  time,  until  it  was 
in  the  estimated  range  of  our  rifles,  when  it  was  halted 
and  ordered  to  fire  advancing.  .  .  .  We  steadily 
advanced,  and  as  the  distance  diminished  the  ratio  of 
loss  rapidly  increased  against  the  enemy  ;  he  yielded 
and  was  driven  back  on  his  reserves.  A  plain  now 
lying  behind  us,  the  enemy's  cavalry  had  passed 
around  our  right  flank,  which  rested  on  the  main 
ravine,  and  gone  to  our  rear.  The  support  I  had  ex- 
1  Memoir,  Yol.  I,  p.  321. 


88  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

pected  to  join  us  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  I  therefore 
ordered  the  regiment  to  retire,  and  went  in  person  to 
find  the  cavalry  which  had  been  concealed  by  the 
inequality  of  the  ground.  I  found  them,  at  the  first 
point  where  the  ravine  was  practicable  for  horsemen, 
in  the  act  of  crossing — no  doubt  for  the  purpose  of 
charging  our  rear.  The  nearest  of  our  men  ran 
quickly  to  my  call,  attacked  this  body,  and  dispersed 
it  with  some  loss." 

The  regiment  was  reformed  on  the  ground  which  it 
had  occupied  at  the  beginning  of  the  fight  that  day 
and  from  which  it  had  retreated.  l  l  Here, > '  says  Davis, 
continuing  his  account,  "  a  heavy  fire  was  opened 
upon  us  by  a  battery  which  the  enemy  had  established 
near  the  centre  of  his  line.  The  battery  was  with 
drawn  for  the  moment  and  a  large  cavalry  force  ad 
vanced  to  the  attack  on  our  left.  The  Mississippi 
regiment  was  filed  to  the  right,  and  fronted  in  line 
across  the  plain  ;  the  Indiana  regiment  which  had 
been  operating  with  us  was  formed  on  the  bank  of  the 
ravine  in  advance  of  our  right  flank,  by  which  a  re- 
entering  angle  was  presented  to  the  enemy.  While 
this  preparation  was  being  made,  Sergeant- Major 
Miller  of  our  regiment  was  sent  to  Captain  Sherman 
for  one  or  more  pieces  of  artillery  from  his  battery. 
The  enemy  came  forward  rapidly  and  in  beautiful 
order — the  files  and  ranks  so  closed  as  to  look  like  a 
mass  of  men  and  horse.  Perfect  silence  and  the 
greatest  steadiness  prevailed  in  both  lines  of  our 
troops  as  they  stood  at  shoulder  [?]  arms  awaiting 
an  attack.  At  eighty  or  a  hundred  yards  in  front  of 
us  the  enemy  came  almost  to  a  halt.  A  few  files  of 
our  men  fired  without  orders  and  both  lines  then 


ONE  YEAR  OF  WAR  89 

instantly  poured  in  a  volley  so  destructive  that  the 
mass  yielded  to  the  blow,  and  the  survivors  fled. 
Their  retreat  was  followed  by  a  very  effective  fire  by 
Captain  Sherman  who  had  now  arrived  with  his  field- 
piece  until  they  were  out  of  range." 

This  was  Davis7  s  celebrated  stand,  which  was  re 
ported  all  over  the  country.  It  had  saved  the  day  for 
Taylor.  The  Colonel  of  the  Mississippi  Riflemen  did 
other  valiant  work  in  this  battle — all  the  time  suffering 
from  a  painful  wound  in  the  foot — but  nowhere  else 
was  the  issue  so  close  and  the  conduct  of  his  men  so 
heroic.  In  his  detailed  report  of  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista  of  March  6th,  Taylor  said  : 

"  The  Mississippi  Riflemen,  under  command  of  Colo 
nel  Davis,  were  highly  conspicuous  for  gallantry  and 
steadiness,  and  sustained  throughout  the  engagement 
the  reputation  of  veteran  troops.  Brought  into  action 
against  an  immensely  superior  force,  they  maintained 
themselves  for  a  long  time  unsupported,  and  with 
heavy  loss,  and  held  an  important  part  of  the  field 
until  reenforced.  Colonel  Davis,  though  severely 
wounded,  remained  in  the  saddle  until  the  close  of 
the  action.  His  distinguished  coolness  and  gallantry, 
and  the  heavy  loss  of  his  regiment  on  this  day,  entitle 
him  to  the  particular  notice  of  the  government." 

This  was  the  last  battle  General  Taylor  was  to  fight, 
Santa  Anna  retiring  to  San  Luis  de  Potosi  with  hardly 
half  as  many  men  as  he  had  commanded  on  the  pre 
vious  day.  The  general  had  shown  admirable  quali 
ties  ever  since  the  government  had  practically  repudi 
ated  him.  He  had  borne  Scott's  insulting  conduct 
without  throwing  up  his  commission  ;  had  so  stationed 
his  forces  as  to  meet  the  enemy  on  greatly  advanta- 


90  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

geous  ground ;  and  during  the  fierce  fighting  of  the  23d, 
had  remained  unperturbed  in  the  midst  of  his  troops, 
disposing  them  to  the  best  advantage,  while  he  encour 
aged  the  faint-hearted  and  restrained  the  headlong. 
He  had  triumphed  over  an  enemy  four  times  as  strong 
as  himself — proof  enough  of  his  good  leadership.  It 
was  his  third  victory  on  the  enemy's  ground,  against 
forces  greatly  superior  to  his  own. 

The  government  had  again  grown  uneasy  about  the 
little  Army  of  the  Eio  Grande.  Scott's  disposition  of 
the  forces  had  become  known  and  it  was  feared  that 
Taylor  had  been  surrounded  and  his  men  put  to  the 
sword,  a  sacrifice  to  the  ambition  of  the  commanding 
general.  The  news  of  Buena  Yista  was  even  more 
grateful  than  had  been  that  of  Palo  Alto.  The  people 
breathed  easily  once  more  and  the  names  of  Taylor  and 
Davis  were  toasted  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other. 

While  the  ostensible  candidate  for  the  next  Whig 
nomination  was  moving  in  all  pomp  and  splendor 
toward  Yera  Cruz,  the  deserted  and  neglected  subordi 
nate  had  won  a  brilliant  victory  against  the  greatest 
odds.  There  was  now  nothing  more  for  Taylor  to  do 
but  to  guard  the  Eio  Grande  and  hold  the  ground  he  had 
taken.  He  was  left  by  the  government  idly  to  watch 
the  Yera  Cruz  expedition.  But  his  three  successful 
encounters,  and,  above  all,  that  of  Buena  Yista,  had 
won  him  the  presidency  at  the  hands  of  the  people  of 
his  country,  who  loved  fair  play  and  were  determined 
to  reward  him  for  his  faithful  services. 

The  term  for  which  the  Mississippi  Eiflemen  had 
enlisted  was  about  to  expire.  There  was  no  longer 
any  real  need  of  them,  and  Davis,  after  formal  arrange* 


ONE  YEAE  OF  WAE  91 

ments  with  his  chief,  marched  the  remnant  of  his  com 
mand  to  the  harbor  near  Port  Isabel,  where  they  took 
ship  for  New  Orleans.  They  reached  the  Southern 
metropolis  on  June  9th,  nearly  one  year  after  their 
departure.  The  city  outdid  itself  in  honoring  the 
returning  heroes.  They  were  marched  along  Canal 
Street,  amidst  deafening  applause,  and  finally  to 
La  Fayette  Square,  where  S.  S.  Prentiss  delivered  an 
oration  of  unsurpassed  eulogy— not  at  all  like  the 
speech  he  had  made  at  Warren  County  court-house, 
against  Davis  four  years  before.  The  commander  re 
plied  in  amiable  terms  to  the  eloquence  of  his  old 
political  opponent.  From  the  speech-making,  the 
regiment  marched  to  the  Place  d'  Armes,  where  they 
were  feasted  at  the  public  expense. 

The  next  day,  the  Eiflemen  took  ship  and  disbanded 
as  they  went  up  the  stream,  groups  of  men  being  left 
at  each  wharf.  Mrs.  Davis  came  on  board  the  vessel 
at  Natchez,  where  she  had  spent  the  past  year  at  the 
home  of  her  father.  There  were  also  twelve  young 
ladies,  with  a  quantity  of  flowers,  who  crowned  the 
officers — let  us  hope  some  privates  too — with  wreaths. 
From  this  place  to  Vicksburg,  it  was  a  continuous 
ovation  which  the  planters  gave  their  neighbor,  the 
returning  master  of  "Brierfield."  After  a  day  in 
Vicksburg,  Davis  and  his  wife  went  back  to  their 
estate,  where  the  wounded  foot  continued  to  give 
trouble,  compelling  the  hero  to  depend  upon  crutches 
for  a  year  or  two. 

A  significant  and  somewhat  impertinent  act  of 
Davis' s  now  closed  his  Mexican  career.  Polk  for 
warded  him,  through  a  friend,  a  commission  as  briga 
dier-general  of  volunteers.  Its  recipient  returned  it 


92  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

with  the  remark  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
had  not  the  authority  to  make  such  an  appointment,1 
that  power  inhering  in  the  states  alone. 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  360 ;  Schouler,  Vol.  V,  p.  77. 


CHAPTEE  VI 

FIRST  SESSION  IN  THE  SENATE 

GOVERNOR  ALEXANDER  G.  BROWN  designated  Davis 
to  represent  Mississippi  in  the  United  States  Senate     / 
within  two  months  after  his  return  from  Mexico.     The    j 
appointment  was  for  the  interval  to  elapse  before  the 
next  session  of  the  assembly,  the  vacancy  being  due  to   j 
the  death  of  Senator  Jesse  Spaight.     The  legislature 
soon  met  and  unanimously  elected  him  for  the  re 
mainder  of  the  unexpired  term.     There  was  scarce  a 
ripple  of  disapproval  of  these  acts,  either  in  the  public 
press  or  on  the  platform.     The  state  had  become  over 
whelmingly  Democratic ;   but   all   parties  joined  in 
honoring  the  brilliant  young  Colonel  of  the  Mississippi 
Eifles,  the  unstinted  praise  of  Sargent  Prentiss  in  New 
Orleans  having  done  much  to  reconcile  stanch  Whigs 
and  anti-administration  men. 

When  Davis  appeared  in  the  Senate,  two  problems 
of  serious  import  confronted  him  and  his  party.     The 
first  was  the  evolution  of  a  definite  Southern  plan  with  \ 
reference  to  the  large  annexations  of  territory  which,  j 
by  common  consent,  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  the! 
natural  result  of  the  war.     The  second  was  the  win- l 
ning  of  a  sufficient  number  of  Northern  votes  to  make 
the  new  program  effective.     The  President  had  already 
committed  his  party  to  the  policy  of  a  large  extension 
of  territory  ;  he  had  even  attempted,  as  Davis  must 
have  known,  to  carry  through  a  scheme  for  the  entire 


94  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

dismemberment  of  Mexico.1  Calhoun,  whose  influ 
ence  was  in  no  way  waning,  had  already  declared,  in 
his  famous  speech  at  Charleston,  in  the  preceding 
March,  that  the  new  region  was  to  be  thrown  open  to 
the  settlement  of  slave-owners.  And  ardent  followers 
of  the  South  Carolina  statesman  had  begun  to  raise 
afresh  the  long  quiescent  question  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  It  was  boldly  asserted  by  influential 
leaders  in  the  South  that  the  settlement  of  1820-21  was 
unconstitutional  and  that  the  Northwest  ought  now  to 
be  opened  to  slavery. 

Davis' s  friends,  Ehett,  Walker,  Yancey,  and  Jacob 
Thompson,  were  impatiently  urging  the  President  for 
ward  in  his  policy  of  annexing  the  whole  of  Mexico. 
They  even  threatened  secession  in  the  event  of  their 
being  denied  what  they  held  to  be  Southern  rights  in 
the  new  territory. 

Eobert  Barnwell  Ehett,  descended  from  an  ancient 
South  Carolina  family,  editor  of  the  already  famous 
Charleston  Mercury,  and  member  of  the  national 
House  of  Eepresentatives  since  1835,  was  coming  to  his 
own.  He  had  always  been  an  agitator.  His  first  field 
was  the  Colleton  district  in  the  southeastern  part  of  his 
state.  The  occasion  had  been  the  tariff  of  1824,  and 
in  1828  he  was  able  to  carry  much  of  South  Carolina 
with  him.  In  the  same  year  Calhoun  experienced  his 
first  change  of  heart  on  the  subject  of  the  national 
tariff,  and  by  1829  the  younger  had  won  the  older  man 
entirely  to  his  view  of  the  tariff  and  states7  rights — a 
view  which  had  obtained  almost  universal  acceptance 
in  Virginia  during  the  last  decade  of  Jefferson's  life. 

Professor  E.  G.  Bourne's  article  in  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  April, 
1900. 


FIEST  SESSION  IN  THE  SENATE  95 

Calhoun  and  Ehett  worked  side  by  side  in  the  days  of 
nullification,  and  the  aristocratic  eastern  or  tidewater 
section  was  the  basis  of  their  power.  On  the  failure  of 
nullification,  Ehett  made  the  slavery  issue  paramount 
in  his  state;  when  the  Texas  agitation  began,  he 
thought  in  advance  of  Calhoun,  championing  that 
leader's  measures  in  the  House  from  1835  to  1845. 
But  when  Calhoun  began  to  fear  the  outcome  of  the 
Texan  trouble  and  raised  his  voice  against  the  war  with 
Mexico,  Ehett  refused  to  listen  to  conservative  coun 
sel,  even  from  his  own  recognized  chieftain.  "  War 
and  conquest"  was  the  slogan  of  the  editor  of  the 
Mercury.  Now  that  the  end  was  near  and  a  rich 
harvest  was  almost  within  his  grasp,  would  Ehett  yield 
for  Calhoun' s  sake?  Or  would  the  older  man  sur 
render  to  the  younger  and  himself  become  a  radical ! 

Experienced  heads  in  the  Democratic  party  saw  that 
this  extreme  Southern  program  could  not  succeed. 
Ritchie  and  other  conservative  Virginians  combined 
with  Northern  Democrats  to  urge  upon  the  President 
a  moderation  of  his  views,  which  was  absolutely 
essential  if  they  expected  to  continue  in  control  of  the 
country.  The  cabinet  yielded  to  this  sane  outside 
pressure.  Davis  took  the  same  position  and  hoped  to  - 
combine  all  elements  in  the  interest  of  Calhoun  ;  but 
the  bitter  contempt  of  the  latter  for  the  administra 
tion,  based  on  a  natural  resentment  at  being  so  com 
pletely  ignored  by  those  whose  importance  had  been 
the  outgrowth  of  his  own  planning,  rendered  co 
operation  impossible.  Davis  was  therefore  forced  to 
break  with  the  South  Carolina  leaders,  who  were  them 
selves  not  united,  and  ally  himself  with  Cass  and  others 
who  espoused  the  measures  of  the  cabinet.  Failing^  if 


96  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

/then,  to  enlist  his  Southern  colleagues  on  the  basis 
of  a  common,  moderate  program,  he  decided  to  take 
such  a  position  as  would  appeal  to  the  greater  number 
North  and  South,  though  in  doing  this  he  sacrificed 
much  of  what  he  thought  ought  to  become  a  part  of 
the  Democratic  policy. 

Without  solving  the  problem  of  Southern  unity, 
Davis  became  the  coworker  of  Cass,  the  powerful 
Democratic  senator  from.  Michigan  who  was  also  Chair 
man  of  the  Senate  Military  Committee,  and  other 
leaders  of  the  Northwest,  in  the  hope  that  this  section 
might  yet  be  attracted  to  the  policy  of  the  administra 
tion  and  in  the  end  obtain  enough  Northern  votes  in 
support  of  his  views  to  make  the  party  reasonably 
safe  in  its  position.  Personally,  however,  he  re 
mained  on  the  most  friendly  terms  with  Calhoun, 
and  at  heart  expected  to  bring  that  statesman  into 
sufficiently  harmonious  relations  with  the  leading  ele 
ments  of  the  Democratic  party  to  render  feasible  his 
nomination  for  the  presidency  in  1848.  For  this  result, 
Everett  of  Massachusetts  and  a  strong  party  in 
Virginia,  including  E.  M.  T.  Hunter,  were  also 
laboring. 1 

But  to  force  Mexico  to  yield  as  much  of  her  territory 
as  was  required,  it  was  deemed  essential  that  large  re- 
enforcements  for  the  armies  stationed  there  should  be 
raised  and  equipped.  The  President  called  for  ten 
regiments  and  stated  his  object  to  be  the  overawing  of 
the  enemy  and  the  occupation  of  its  southern  provinces. 
The  war  had  now  continued  for  nearly  two  years  and 
peace  with  u security  for  the  future77  was  still  distant. 

1  Annual  Report,  Amer.  Hist.  Ass'nc  1899  :  Jameson,  Correspond 
ence  of  Calhoun,  pp.  1066-1081. 


FIKST  SESSION  IN  THE  SENATE  97 

Polk  found  a  ready  champion  in  Cass,  and  Davis  at 
once  became  a  strong  advocate  of  the  administration. 
Long  debates  ensued  on  the  Ten  EegimgnteJBill,  as  it 
was  called,  from  December  3I^T847,  througlTtEe  fol 
lowing  months.  The  Mississippi  an  was  an  important 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  and 
urged  that  the  delay  of  a  single  week  in  its  passage 
would  be  harmful  to  the  country.  Other  leading 
senators  thought  the  case  not  so  pressing  and  in 
stituted  various  tactics  to  achieve  postponement.  Dur 
ing  the  month  of  January,  1848,  nothing  of  con 
sequence  was  done  in  the  Senate  except  to  debate  this 
measure  of  doubtful  necessity,  and  incidentally  arraign 
the  motives  and  the  policy  of  the  President.  On 
March  17th,  it  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  29  to  19,  with 
such  powerful  Southerners  as  Calhoun,  John  Bell  of 
Tennessee,  and  Berrien  of  Georgia  disapproving. 
Only  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Alabama, 
and  Mississippi  voted  solidly.  In  the  House,  where 
the  anti-administration  party  was  in  control,  the  bill 
received  scant  courtesy,  finally  being  pigeon-holed  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  Howell  Cobb 
and  Eobert  Toombs  of  Georgia  leading  the  opposition. 
The  discussion  of  this  measure  and  the  resolutions 
and  amendments  that  were  proposed  during  the  de 
bate,  are  of  importance  to  the  student  of  Davis' s  life 
only  because  they  show,  first,  his  public  policy  and 
his  powers  as  a  legislator ;  second,  the  attitude  of  the 
states  which  later  entered  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
The  bill  was  a  part  of  an  imperialist  scheme  which, 
as  the  war  wore  on,  was  seriously  designed  to  bring 
all  Mexico  into  the  Union.1  Its  advocates  were  bold 
Bourne,  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  April,  1900. 


98  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Southern  expansionists  who  saw  in  this  the  realization 
of  Calhoun's  pro-slavery  policy ;  and  imperialists  of 
the  West  and  Northwest,  such  as  Benton  and  Cass, 
who  thought  that  the  hand  of  u  manifest  destiny" 
ever  pointed  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  as  the  true 
western  boundary  of  the  country. 

That  Davis  wished  to  see  Mexico  dismembered  and 
annexed  to  the  United  States  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
if  circumstantial  evidence  has  any  value,  though  he 
had  not  at  first  taken  this  view.  His  speech  of 
January  3,  1848,  against  Calhoun's  resolutions,  de 
claring  that  annexation  was  not  the  purpose  of  the 
government ;  his  repeated  assertion  that  not  a  week's 
delay  should  be  permitted  in  the  passage  of  the  Ten 
Eegiments  Bill ;  his  persistent  advocacy  and  defense 
of  the  administration,  which  he  knew  had  badly  treated 
his  father-in-law — all  speak  eloquently  for  Calhouu's 
charge  that  nothing  short  of  annexation  was  intended. 

Another  side  of  Davis7  s  character  was  manifested 
in  the  debate  on  the  Crittenden  amendment  to  the  Ten 
Eegiments  Bill,  proposing  to  substitute  volunteers  for 
regulars.  He  opposed  the  suggestion,  at  once,  main 
taining  that  the  chief  business  of  the  new  force  would 
be  in  garrisoning  the  towns  and  strongholds  of  Mexico, 
for  which  volunteers  were  unfitted  :  l  i  The  high-spirited 
citizen-soldier  goes  to  war  for  battle,  not  the  dull 
routine  of  army  posts ;  he  is  active,  alert,  restless,  not 
accustomed  to  drudgery,  and  therefore  unfitted  for 
anything  less  than  the  dangerous  duty  of  the  battle 
line."  On  the  other  hand,  the  man  who  enters  the 
regular  army  comes  from  a  lower  class  of  the  com 
munity.  He  is  unaccustomed  to  personal  refinements, 
willing  to  be  commanded,  driven  and  kicked  if  neces- 


FIEST  SESSION  IN  THE  SENATE          99 

sary — a  West  Point  opinion  of  the  private  soldier  then 
as  well  as  now,  and  a  view  of  social  life  in  general 
which  prevailed  all  too  widely  in  the  South  in  1848. 
So  apt  was  Da  vis's  description  of  the  Southern  atti 
tude  toward  the  two  classes,  that  Calhoun  hastened  to 
approve  this  part  of  his  opponent's  remarks.  That 
neither  senator  was  rebuked  for  these  speeches  is  sig 
nificant  of  the  times,  as  well  as  of  the  character  of  the 
annexation  propaganda.1 

Calhoun  still  further  embarrassed  his  ardent  states7 
rights  followers  by  charging  the  President  with  usurp 
ing  authority  not  properly  belonging  to  the  Executive, 
when  he  had  practically  declared  war  upon  Mexico. 
In  answering  these  allegations,  Davis  and  Ehett  outdid 
the  Federalists  of  1798  in  ascribing  powers  to  the 
President.     To  declare  war,  Ehett  said,  was  not  the 
function  of  Congress,  while  Davis  was  willing  to  leaver 
every  military  question  to  the  President  and  his  ad- )  ^ 
visers. 

But  Davis  and  Cass  found  it  difficult  successfully 
to  defend  the  policy  of  the  administration  against 
Webster,  Calhoun,  Berrien,  John  Bell,  and  Critt en- 
den.  The  whole  Whig  galaxy  now  joined  the  recal 
citrant  Democrats  in  combatting  every  proposal  of 
the  younger  politicians.  Davis  knew  no  better  way 
to  silence  these  great  speakers  than  to  charge  them 
with  the  responsibility  for  the  war.  He  said:  "We 
had  information  from  a  special  agent,  sent  to  Mexico 
in  1844,  that  he  had  commenced  preliminaries,  and 
had  the  prospect  of  settlement  by  negotiation  of  all 
difficulties  then  pending.  On  the  fourth  day  after  the 
negotiations  had  been  opened,  two  celebrated  letters, 
'Thirtieth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Jan.  5,  1848. 


100  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

published  that  year,  reached  Mexico.  One  was  dated 
at  Raleigh  [Clay's]  and  the  other  at  Lindenwald  [Van 
Buren's].  On  the  arrival  of  these  letters,  forwarded, 
it  is  said,  by  the  Mexican  minister  at  Washington, 
the  negotiation  was  immediately  suspended."  If  the 
Mexicans  have  "  their  hopes  revived  again  with  the 
prospect  of  a  refusal  here  to  supply  men  and  money  to 
prosecute  the  war,"  Davis  continued,  "  they  will  again 
reject  negotiations  in  the  expectation  that  a  new  admin 
istration  may  come  into  power  in  the  United  States. 
.  .  .  We  have  erred  on  the  side  of  leniency  in  our 
dealings  with  Mexico  ;  I  think  we  are  about  to  retro- 
cede  territory  to  Mexico.  I  hold  that  in  a  just  war 
we  conquered  a  larger  portion  of  Mexico,  and  that  to 
it  we  have  a  title  which  has  been  regarded  as  valid 
ever  since  man  existed  in  a  social  condition — the  title 
of  conquest :  it  seems  to  me  that  the  question  is  now, 
low  much  shall  we  keep,  how  much  shall  we  give  up, 
and  that  Mexico  cedes  nothing."  ' 

Arguing  thus,  he  proceeds,  with  the  true  imperial 
ist's  instinct,  to  suggest  the  annexation  of  Yucatan, 
lest  England  or  another  nation  shall  acquire  it.  And 
when  some  one  cautiously  intimated  that  the  British 
government  might  resist  the  continued  advance  toward 
the  Isthmus  he  replied  by  saying  that  he  would  then 
make  war  on  Great  Britain.  The  West  Indies,  and 
finally  an  inter-oceanic  canal,  were  not  without  the 
scope  of  Da  vis's  policy.  And,  as  if  preparing  for  his 
own  future  undoing,  he  vehemently  declared  :  "I have 
no  confidence  in  the  humanity  of  Great  Britain,  the 
great  slave-trader  of  the  world.  If  she  should  interfere 
on  any  pretext  in  the  affairs  of  Cuba  in  order  to  get  a 
1  Thirtieth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  March  17, 1848. 


FIKST  SESSION  IN  THE  SENATE         101 

footing  there,  I  would  regard  it  as  a  proper  occasion 
to  interfere.  .  .  .  The  very  necessity  of  defending 
the  United  States  requires  that  we  should  take  whatso 
ever  should  be  necessary  always  to  secure  the  great 
point  of  exit  and  entrance  to  a  large  portion  of  the 
American  coast  [the  Gulf  of  Mexico]." 

Before  the  close  of  the  session  of  1847-48,  Davis  un 
folds  the  vast  scheme  which  had  seized  the  minds  of 
young  Southern  statesmen.     In  the  Oregon  debate,  he 
laments  the  narrow  view  of  those  who  see  in  the  ex 
pansion    of   the   country   only  the   advancement   of 
slavery.     Such  a  position  he  combats  in  a  vigorous 
fashion,  prophesying  that,  after  the  sectionalists  of 
the  day  have  forced  a  dismemberment  of  our  u  glorious 
Union,"  the  old  flag  will  again  be  "unfurled  over  the! 
continent- wide  republic."  1     And  at  the  next  session 
he  advances  to  the  position  of  Calhoun,  as  outlined  in 
1845,    which  he  had  viewed  askance  when  entering 
Congress.     He  is  now  ready  to  champion  the  cause  of 
a  Pacific  railway,  beginning  of  course  at  some  point ! 
on  the  Mississippi    below    St.    Louis,    preferably  at! 
Vicksburg  ;  but  he,  like  the  South  Carolina  statesman,  | 
never  admits  the  reasonableness  of  Benton's  project  \ 
for  a  road  whose  eastern  terminus  should  be  at  the\ 
junction  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  Eivers. 

Peering  still  further  into  the  future  of  American 
political  planning,  he  outlines  a  scheme  for  a  Panama 
railway  under  government  control,  to  be  operated  in 
the  interests  of  international  commerce  and  for  the  de 
fense  of  the  Pacific  coast  states.  Thus  with  ever- enlarg 
ing  view,  we  find  this  ambitous  young  senator  pro 
gressing  toward  the  goal  which  " great  Americans" 

1  Thirtieth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  July  12,  1848. 


102  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

have  ever  kept  in  mind.  In  order  to  carry  out  these 
designs,  he  makes  advances  to  such  Northern  and 
Western  members  of  the  Senate  as  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
John  S.  Dickinson,  and  the  aged  Cass.  Could  he  have 
included  the  able  and  sturdy  Benton  among  his  friends, 
and  offered  what  the  great  Missourian  so  much  loved, 
a  meed  of  harmless  flattery,  his  aims  might  have  come 
much  nearer  their  realization. 

But  the  fearful  slave-issue  stood  threatening  in  the 
way.  The  quickening  conscience  and  sectional  jeal 
ousy  of  the  North  already  gave  assurance  of  the  failure 
of  these  larger  schemes  and  the  precipitation  of  a  crisis 
more  acute  than  that  of  1820.  Davis  hoped,  however, 
that  the  prejudice  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois  against  the  free  negro,  whose  immigration 
they  so  much  dreaded,  would  whip  into  the  Democratic 
line  enough  senators  and  representatives  to  save  the 
day  for  the  South.  All  three  of  these  flourishing 
young  commonwealths  were  at  this  time  forbidding  the 
negro  to  settle  within  their  bounds.  Might  they  not 
finally  reject  the  overtures  of  the  reformers  of  the 
Northeast  and  the  Western  Eeserve  and  accept  the 
embraces  of  the  imperial  South  ? 

To  forward  these  plans  Davis  became  one  of  the 
first  advocates  of  a  "  Home  Department,"  with  duties 
not  unlike  those  of  the  English  Home  Office — another 
scheme  of  Eobert  J.  Walker.  A  geological  survey, 
coast  surveys,  and  numerous  naval  improvements  also 
received  the  attention  of  the  future  Confederate  Presi 
dent  during  these  happier  days.  Alexander  D.  Bache, 
a  classmate  at  West  Point,  and  Matthew  F.  Maury, 
America's  great  ocean  surveyor,  were  his  friends. 
Many  writers  of  note,  and  men  interested  in  astron- 


FIKST  SESSION  IN  THE  SENATE         103 

omy  and  pure  mathematics  were  entertained  at  his 
hospitable  board,  where  his  accomplished  wife  pre 
sided,  his  views  thus  being  enlarged  by  contact  with 
men  prominent  in  every  walk  of  life. 


CHAPTER 

SLAVERY,    AND   THE  COMPROMISE   of  1850 

WHILE  Davis  had  been  an  ardent  nationalist  since 
;  the  day  of  his  entrance  with  Walker  upon  the  Polk 
i    campaign,   he  had  always  acted  on  the  supposition 
that  slavery  was  a  fixed  institution  of  the  South  and 
'    possibly  of  the  country  at  large.     Without  advancing 
\  such  arguments  in  definite  terms,  he  had  expected  the 
1  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  Mexican  acquisitions 
materially  to  improve  the  political  condition  of  the 
Southern  states.     When  he  favored  the  expansion  of 
the  Northwest,   he  openly  said  that  the  new  territory 
should  not  for  reasons  of  policy  be  closed  to  the  slave- 
owning  immigrant.     And  the  Southern  advocates  of 
Oregon  expected  the  beneficiaries  of  the  increasing  area 
of  the  nation  in  that  direction  to  say  nothing  against 
the    claims  of   their  section  to  regions  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  ancient  Louisiana  purchase. 

But  if  Cass,  Hannegan,  and  Douglas  had  given 
assurances  of  the  acquiescence  of  their  states  in  the 
policy  of  the  South,  they  had  reckoned  without  their 
host  in  so  far  as  it  involved  the  question  of  slavery 
expansion.  When  the  bill  for  the  creation  of  Oregon 
Territory  came  before  Congress  in  1848,  the  Northwest 
was  almost  unanimously  opposed  to  the  proposition  to 
leave  the  matter  unmentioned.  It  was  remembered 
that  Oregon  lay  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  Louisiana 
region,  and  that,  under  the  Constitution,  the  master 
might  carry  his  slaves  into  any  possession  of  the 


SLAVEEY,  AND  THE  COMPKOMISE       105 

nation,  unless  expressly  prohibited  by  law  of  Congress. 
The  Compromise  of  1820  did  not  suffice.  Davis  saw 
the  advantage  of  leaving  the  knotty  problem  un 
touched  :  this  inactivity  would  not  cause  slavery  to 
take  root  in  the  far  Northwest,  but  would  secure  for 
the  spread  of  Southern  institutions  the  more  congenial 
territory  south  of  the  line  of  36°  30',  where  new  states 
might  be  built  up  to  counteract  the  growing  power  of 
the  North.  But  when  it  was  proposed  to  apply  the 
Northwest  Ordinance  to  Oregon,  Davis  introduced 1  a 
proviso  "that  nothing  contained  in  this  act  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  authorize  the  prohibition  of  domestic 
slavery  in  said  territory  whilst  it  remains  in  the  con 
dition  of  a  territory  of  the  United  States." 

Calhoun  defended  the  Davis  proviso,  contending  that 
the  Ordinance  of  1787  applied  only  to  individuals ; 
that  it  could  not  be  fairly  considered  a  precedent  be 
cause  Thomas  Jefferson,  its  author,  had  in  1820,  in  a 
letter  written  to  Holmes,  of  South  Carolina,  declared 
against  it;  and  that  Congress  had  no  power  in  the 
premises,  states  alone  having  authority  to  regulate 
slavery.  In  other  words,  the  Compromise  of  1820 
had  been  extra-constitutional.  Davis  spoke  to  his  own 
proviso  and  laid  down  his  doctrine  on  this  one  great 
question  of  his  life.  He  had  sought,  with  Calhoun,  to 
bring  about  a  state  of  things  which  would  leave  the 
South  secure,  and  isolate  that  section  of  the  North 
hopelessly  opposed  to  slavery.  This  had  failed.  The 
country  was  now  confronted  with  the  pressing  issue  : 
Shall  slavery  enter  the  new  territory  of  the  nation  f 
Since  the  question  must  be  met,  Davis  inclined  to 
yield  his  greater  Americanism  for  the  particular  inter- 
1  Thirtieth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  June  23,  1848. 


106  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

I!  est  of  Mississippi  and  her  sister  states  of  the  Lower 

|  South. 

The  speech  followed  somewhat  closely  the  trend  of 
thought  in  Calhoun's  recent  addresses  and  letters. 
Eleven  states,  said  Davis,  have  declared,  through  their 
legislatures,  that  slavery  shall  not  be  protected  in  the 
new  states  and  hinted  that  it  mast  be  destroyed  in 
the  old  ones.  This  looks  to  the  isolation  of  the  slave- 
states  and  the  final  abolition  of  property  in  slaves. 
IHe  then  presented  the  doctrine  that  Congress  could  not 
legislate  against  property  guaranteed  by  the  laws  of 
any  state,  but  that  it  must  protect  such  property,  no 
matter  at  what  cost,  else  the  Union  was  not  doing  the 
tasks  it  was  created  to  perform.  The  idea  which  he 
;  had  in  mind,  and  which  he  clearly  stated,  was  that  the 
Constitution  did  not  grant  primary  authority,  only 
secondary  and  delegated  rights.  It  had,  so  to  speak, 
given  Southern  masters  and  their  successors,  by  for 
mation  of  the  Union,  a  perpetual  franchise  over  the 
labor  of  negroes.  This  franchise,  like  any  other  con 
tract,  could  not  be  abrogated  without  the  consent  of 
both  parties  to  it.  On  the  question,  then,  of  lawful 

/  right,  Davis  was  immovable.  It  mattered  not  to  him 
how  much  the  world  argued  against  the  wisdom  of 
slavery ;  how  inhuman  the  masters  were  declared  to 
be.  He  stood  here  on  the  constitutional  compromise  ; 
he  demanded  his  "bond,"  regretting  the  short-sighted 
policy  of  the  Southerners  in  1787  and  1820,  in  yielding 
their  interests  and  their  privileges  for  what  seemed  to 
ibe  a  humanitarian  and  fraternal  object.  That  the 

I  letter  of  the  law  and  the  Constitution  favored  him  will 

i  not  be  disputed  by  many  competent  students  to-day. 
What  would  be  the  alternative  of  this  hard  and  fast 


SLAVEEY,  AND  THE  COMPROMISE     107 

position,  Davis  does  not  now  fully  declare,  though 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  his  mind  was 
made  up  on  this  question. 

So  much  for  the  rights  of  the  slave-holders  as  Davis 
viewed  the  issue.  What  of  their  policy?  On  this 
point  he  said  that  there  ^was  no  intention  to  carry 
slavery  into  Oregon,  no  purpose  of  imposing  the  in 
stitution  on  unwilling  embryo  states;  it  was  only 
desired  to  leave  the  fundamental  law  in  such  a  form 
that  Southern  property  might  be  safe  there.  Slavery, 
he  thought,  could  not  nourish  in  northern  latitudes. 
All  that  he  really  aimed  at  was  to  put  a  stop  to 
adverse  legislation  on  the  matter  and  forestall  the 
Wilmot  Proviso,  which  was  still  a  sort  of  spectre  likely 
to  make  its  reappearance  in  Congress  at  any  moment. 
He  would  have  secured  a  vantage-ground  north  of  the 
line  36°  30',  in  order  later  to  compromise  successfully 
on  its  extension  to  the  Pacific,  though  he  was  no  friend 
of  compromises  on  this  or  any  other  subject. 

He  closes  his  speech  in  a  remarkable  defense  of 
slavery — the  more  remarkable  because  of  the  year  in 
which  it  was  made,  1848  :  "If  slavery  be  a  sin,  it  is 
not  yours.  It  does  not  rest  on  your  action  for  its 
origin,  on  your  consent  for  its  existence.  It  is  a 
common  law  right  to  property  in  the  service  of  man  ; 
its  origin  was  Divine  decree — the  curse  upon  the  grace 
less  son  of  Noah."  He  then  traces  what  he  thinks  has 
been  the  history  of  the  institution  through  Spain  to 
America,  through  the  native  tribes,  and  through  Dutch 
and  English  traders,  concluding  : 

' t  But  the  sons  of  Shem  [Indians]  were  not  doomed  to 
bondage  ;  they  were  restless,  discontented  and  liberated 
because  they  were  unprofitable.  Their  places  were 


108  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

supplied  by  the  sons  of  Ham,  brought  across  the  broad 
Atlantic  for  this  purpose ;  they  came  to  their  destiny 
and  were  useful  and  contented.  Over  the  greater  part 
of  the  continent  Japheth  now  sits  in  the  tents  of 
Shem,  and  in  extensive  regions  Ham  is  his  servant. 
Let  those  who  possess  the  best  opportunity  to  judge, 
those  who  have  grown  up  in  the  presence  of  the  slave 
institutions,  as  they  exist  in  the  United  States,  say,  if 
their  [the  slaves']  happiness  and  usefulness  do  not  prove 
their  present  condition  to  be  the  accomplishment  of  an 
all- wise  decree.  It  may  have  for  its  end  the  prepara 
tion  of  that  race  for  civil  liberty  and  social  enjoyment. 
.  .  .  Sirs,  this  problem  is  one  which  must  bring 
its  own  solution  ;  leave  natural  causes  to  their  full 
effect,  and  when  the  time  shall  arrive  at  which 
emancipation  is  proper,  those  most  interested  will  be 
the  most  anxious  to  effect  it.  ...  Leave  the 
country  to  the  south  and  west  open,  and  speculation 
may  see  in  the  distant  future  slavery  pressed  by  a 
cheaper  labor  to  the  tropical  regions  where,  less  ex 
ertion  being  required  for  support,  their  previous 
preparation  will  enable  them  to  live  in  independent 
communities.  They  must  first  be  separated  from  the 
white  man,  be  relieved  from  the  condition  of  degrada 
tion  which  will  always  attach  to  them  whilst  in  contact 
with  a  superior  race,  and  they  must  be  elevated  by 
association  and  instruction:  or,  instead  of  a  blessing, 
liberty  would  be  their  greatest  curse." 

As  to  the  motives  of  the  two  great  parties  to  the 

struggle  over  slavery,  Davis  said:1   " The  question  is 

before  us  ;  it  is  a  struggle  for  political  power,  and  we 

must  meet  it  at  the  threshold.     Concession  has  been 

1  Thirtieth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  July  12,  1848. 


SLAYEBY,  AND  THE  COMPEOMISE     109 

ever  the  precursor  of  further  aggression,  and  the  spirit 
of  compromise  has  diminished  as  your  relative  power 
increased.  The  sacrifices  which  the  South  has  at  other 
times  made  to  the  fraternity  and  tranquillity  of  the 
Union  are  now  cited  as  precedents  against  her  rights. 
To  compromise  is  to  waive  the  application,  not  to 
surrender  the  principles  upon  which  a  right  rests, 
and  surely  gives  no  claim  to  further  concession.  .  .  . 
If  the  folly  and  fanaticism  and  pride  and  hate  and 
corruption  of  the  day  are  to  destroy  the  peace  and 
prosperity  of  the  Union,  let  the  sections  part  like  the 
patriarchs  of  old  and  let  peace  and  good-will  subsist 
among  their  descendants.  Let  no  wounds  be  inflicted 
which  time  may  not  heal.  Let  the  flag  of  our  Union 
be  folded  up  entire,  the  thirteen  stripes  recording  the 
original  size  of  our  family,  untorn  by  the  unholy 
struggle  of  civil  war." 

Before  Davis  spoke  on  the  Oregon  question,  both 
houses  had  been  wrangling  for  two  months  over  the 
status  of  the  prospective  states  of  California  and  New 
Mexico.  The  House  had  inclined  to  prohibit  slavery 
there ;  the  Senate  to  permit  it.  Finally,  the  latter 
body  referred  the  whole  knotty  problem  to  a  special 
committee,  headed  by  John  M.  Clayton  of  Delaware, 
which  reported  a  bill  making  territories  of  California, 
New  Mexico,  and  Oregon.  Oregon  was  to  be  free  from 
slavery,  while  California  and  New  Mexico  were  left  to 
decide  the  question  in  their  own  courts,  with  a  right  of 
appeal  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  This  was 
thought  to  be  a  manoeuvre  favorable  to  the  pro-slavery 
party,  since  the  latter  was  deemed  safe  for  the  Southern 
interest.  The  House  refused  to  assent  to  the  proposi 
tion,  having  meanwhile  passed  a  bill  making  Oregon  a 


110  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

free  territory.  This  was  amended  in  the  Senate  so  as 
to  extend  the  line  36°  30'  to  the  Pacific,  securing  slavery 
to  all  national  ground  south  of  this  boundary.  The 
measure  was  returned  to  the  House  with  this  radical 
change,  where  it  was  promptly  stricken  out,  and  on 
the  last  day  of  the  session,  the  bill  became  a  law  with 
slavery  excluded  from  Oregon  and  without  any  decla 
ration  as  to  the  future  of  California  and  New  Mexico, 
or  the  line  of  36°  30'.  The  South  had  failed  in  this 
parliamentary  duel  and  Davis  returned  to  Mississippi 
a  disappointed  man. 

He  was  there  confronted  with  another  question. 
Whom  should  he  support  for  the  presidency?  His 
father-in-law,  General  Zachary  Taylor,  had  been 
nominated  by  the  Whigs  in  their  Philadelphia  conven 
tion  while  Congress  was  yet  in  session.  The  Demo 
crats,  still  under  the  influence  of  the  now  somewhat 
conservative  Southerners  of  the  Polk  imperialist  school, 
had  named  General  Cass  as  their  standard-bearer.  He 
had  ably  championed  the  administration  of  Polk, 
had  polled  a  large  vote  in  the  Baltimore  convention 
and  was  generally  regarded  as  the  logical  candidate  of 
the  party.  But  under  the  pressure  of  Northern  senti 
ment,  he  had  been  forced  to  declare  himself  on  the 
question  of  slavery  expansion.1  His  statement  was  but 
half  satisfactory  to  the  South  and  it  failed  also  to  con 
ciliate  the  North.3  The  coalition  of  South  and  West 
therefore  was  visibly  weakening  just  when  success 
was  in  sight. 


1  See  Nicholson  letter,  as  discussed  in  McLaughlin's  Life  of  Cass, 
p.  231. 

9  Letters  to  Calhoun  in  Report  of  Amer.  Hist.  Assn.,  1899,  Vol. 
II,  pp.  1120,  1132. 


SLAVEEY,  AND  THE  COMPEOMISE      111 

For  a  while  before  the  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia 
convention,  Davis  had  manifested  a  disposition  to 
support  Taylor,  who,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  a 
large  Louisiana  planter  and  slave-holder.  Ehett  had 
inquired  of  him,  for  Calhoun,  whether  the  Whig  candi 
date  were  "safe"  on  the  great  questions  affecting  the 
interests  of  South  Carolina.  Up  to  the  nomination,  it 
was  uncertain  whether  Davis  would  support  the  popular 
military  hero,  with  whom  he  had  been  on  the  most 
intimate  terms  since  his  brave  conduct  at  the  storming 
of  Monterey.  South  Carolina  was  in  doubt  for  a  long 
time  whether  to  vote  for  Taylor  while  repudiating  his 
party,  or  to  support  the  candidate  of  the  Northwest. 
At  the  last  moment  the  vote  was  given  to  the  regular 
Democratic  nominee,  Calhoun  and  Ehett  acquiescing. 
Davis  likewise  remained  true  to  the  organization ;  but, 
for  obvious  reasons,  he  did  not  enter  the  campaign 
against  Taylor.  Indeed,  he  once  came  out  boldly  in 
the  brave  old  soldier's  defense,  when  some  over-zealous 
Democrat  attacked  Taylor's  character.  Davis  was  thus 
true  to  his  nationalist  traditions,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  was  not  risking  the  existence  of  slavery.  He 
was  a  party  man  of  the  strictest  sect  as  this  canvass 
shows. 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress,  the  slavery  issue 
again  occupied  the  attention  of  both  houses.  The 
New  York  senators  and  representatives  reported  that 
their  instructions  from  Albany  required  them  to  exert 
themselves  to  the  utmost  to  prevent  the  extension  of 
slavery  to  the  new  possessions.  John  P.  Hale,  a  senator 
from  New  Hampshire,  introduced  petitions  on  behalf 
of  free  negroes  going  to  Liberia,  and  still  others,  call 
ing  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  This  irritated 


112  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

Davis,  the  more  since  the  constitutional  convention  of 
Kentucky,  then  in  session,  was  debating  a  plan  for 
emancipating  that  state's  slaves  and  sending  them  to  the 
new  African  republic.  It  was  Douglas  who  replied  to 
Hale,  lamenting  the  offensiveuess  of  his  language  and 
suggesting  to  the  Senate  his  own  later  famous  policy  of 
leaving  each  territory  to  settle  for  itself  and  for  Con 
gress  the  status  of  labor  within  its  boundaries.  That 
is,  the  existence  or  prohibition  of  slavery  in  new 
territories  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  determination  of 
the  territorial  lawmakers,  an  idea  which  Cass  had 
probably  invented  and  which  Bagby  of  Alabama  had 
defended  as  the  only  proper  method  of  evading  the 
troublesome  issue.  Davis  thanked  Douglas  for  his 
speech  without  committing  himself  to  the  policy  thus 
presented  by  the  influential  senator  from  Illinois.  He 
closed  his  remarks  with  the  warning  that  the  Union 
would  certainly  be  broken  up  if  Northern  gentlemen 
continued  their  practice  of  intermeddling  with  the 
affairs  of  the  South  :  "  It  is  an  idle  waste  and  a  base 
abandonment  of  the  duties  of  members  upon  this  floor 
thus  to  squander  time  which  should  be  devoted  to  some 
useful  purpose.  All  this  talk  about  slavery  begins  and 
ends  and  has  its  middle  with  the  negro  race.  I  can 
hear  nothing  else,  sir  j  of  nothing  which  is  progressive 
in  human  reform,  nothing  which  does  not  concentrate 
itself  in  this  question  concerning  the  African  race."  l 

Aside  from  the  relaxation  offered  him  by  his  man 
agement  of  the  inauguration  of  the  new  President — 
Davis  was  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee  appointed 
for  the  purpose — this  short  session  gave  rise  only  to  anx 
iety  and  forebodings  concerning  the  future  of  his 
1  Thirtieth  Cong,,  2d  Sess.,  Jan.  10,  1849. 


SLAVEEY,  AND  THE  COMPBOMISE      113 

beloved  Southern  civilization.  He  returned  once  more 
to  Mississippi  to  report  nothing  but  signs  of  ill-omen 
in  the  Northern  skies. 

Soon  after  the  election  of  1848,  various  Northern 
legislatures  renewed  their  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question  by  again  endorsing  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  so 
oifeusive  to  the  South.  Before  the  close  of  1849,  four 
teen  states  had  adopted  in  principle,  at  least,  the  hated 
idea.  The  legislature  of  Virginia  was  first  to  make  a 
formal  reply.  Her  resolutions  declared  in  so  many 
words  that  the  application  of  the  Wilinot  Proviso  or  the 
principle  it  involved  would  be  i  i  resisted  at  all  hazards 
and  to  the  last  extremity. ' '  These  bold  words,  whether 
they  were  originally  sincere  or  not,  were  taken  up  in 
every  Southern  state  and  approved  by  mass  meetings 
and  formal  legislative  assemblies.  Calhoun  gave  out 
the  word  in  Mississippi  that  a  movement  looking 
toward  a  Southern  convention  ought  to  be  made  ;  and 
Whigs  and  Democrats  at  Jackson  joined  in  a  call  for 
this  purpose.  Delegates  were  chosen  for  the  famous 
Nashville  Convention  of  June,  1850.  Other  states 
followed  suit — South  Carolina  going  so  far  as  to  call 
out  her  militia  and  vote  $300,000  for  their  equipment. 
Charleston  and  Columbia,  S.  C.,  and  Jackson,  Miss., 
were  the  centres  of  the  agitation.  Georgia,  Alabama, 
and  Texas  were  also  aroused  ;  but  Virginia,  despite  her 
bold  resolutions,  followed  "  afar  off.'7  Still  dissatisfac 
tion  and  feverish  excitement  prevailed  everywhere.  The 
formation  of  a  Southern  Confederacy,  with  Calhoun  as 
its  first  President,  was  the  talk  of  after-dinner  speakers 
and  of  political  conventions.  The  Charleston  Mercury , 
the  Eichmond  Enquirer,  the  Montgomery  Advertiser 
were  fanning  the  discontent  of  the  people  and  urging 


c^ 
114  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

politicians  to  act  worthily  and  to  respond  to  the  high- 
spirited  sentiment  of  their  constituents.  Davis  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  agitation  and  lent  his  influence  to  all 
these  schemes  looking  to  the  ' '  redress  of  the  griev 
ances  "  of  the  South.  In  fact,  he  had  grown  so  popular 
and  was  so  nearly  in  complete  harmony  with  Southern 
extremists  that  Yancey  proposed  him  to  Ehett  and  the 
South  Carolina  junto  as  a  suitable  "  Southern  Eights  " 
candidate  for  the  presidency.  Nothing  came  of  the 
suggestion,  but  Calhoun  designated  him  during  this 
excitement  in  regard  to  the  Nashville  Convention  as 
the  future  leader  of  the  South.1 

When  Congress  next  assembled,  the  whole  country 
was  uneasy  :  the  South  awaiting  the  first  step  toward 
the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  new  territory ;  the 
North  resolutely  declaring  that  it  should  never  be 
planted  on  soil  already  "  dedicated  to  freedom."  The 
various  Southern  states  were  " instructing"  their  del 
egates  to  Nashville,  while  the  newspapers  stirred  the 
fires  of  discontent.  Charleston  was  anticipating  a 
great  future  for  the  new  empire,  whose  boundaries  were 
to  extend  to  the  Pacific  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  ; 
and  New  Orleans,  located  in  its  very  heart,  was  not 
less  expectant. 

But  while  the  excitement  grew,  California  organized 
as  a  state,  drew  up  and  adopted  a  constitution  forbid 
ding  slavery,  and  sent  two  senators  and  one  represent 
ative  to  Washington  to  ask  for  admission  into  the 
Union.  Counter  attempts  were  made  in  New  Mexico 
to  form  a  government  favorable  to  the  "  institution  " 
of  the  South  ;  but  a  population  of  less  than  one  thou- 

1  Statement  of  A.  P.  Calhoun  to  John  W.  DuBose  of  Alabama, 
repeated  to  the  author,  May,  1905  ;  see  also  Rhodes,  Vol.  I,  p.  390. 


SLAVEBY,  AND  THE  COMPEOMISE      115 

sand  Americans  was  not  sufficient  to  leaven  a  lump  of 
forty  thousand  Mexicans  accustomed  to  the  free  labor 
system,  so  far  as  there  was  any  labor  in  this  easy -going 
region.  To  procure  two  senators  and  one  representa 
tive  favorable  to  the  Southern  cause  from  this  barren 
and  inexperienced  section,  would  have  been  a  farce  in 
deed,  as  Henry  Clay  declared  when  the  subject  came 
to  his  ears.  The  next  resort  was  to  claim,  on  behalf 
of  Texas,  a  large  strip  of  New  Mexico,  and  then  in  due 
time  make  of  this  mammoth  commonwealth  a  half- 
dozen  slave  states  as  counter-weights  to  the  expanding 
Northwest.  Every  sort  of  scheme,  every  imaginable 
device  was  suggested  by  the  fertile-minded  leaders  of 
the  lower  South. 

In  full  sympathy  with  his  section  and  his  state,  Davis 
entered  the  Thirty-first  Congress,  where  the  angry  seg 
ments  of  the  dissolving  country  met  to  settle  their  dif 
ferences.  In  view  of  the  serious  aspect  of  things, 
Henry  Clay  returned  once  again  to  the  scene  of  his 
former  conflicts  and  disappointments.  Chastened  by 
the  defeat  of  his  darling  ambition  to  be  President,  he 
now  entered  the  Senate,  the  acknowledged  champion 
and  beloved  leader  of  his  party, — the  party  which 
never  won  a  victory  except  in  the  wake  of  the  e*clat  of 
some  military  hero,  and  which  was  now  about  to  ren 
der  its  last  great  service  to  the  country  and  die  in  the 
act.  Massachusetts  still  retained  in  the  national  Sen 
ate,  Webster,  who,  next  to  Clay,  was  to  contribute 
most  to  the  pacification  of  the  warring  North  and  South, 
and  who,  like  his  party,  was  to  bankrupt  his  popular 
ity  for  the  sake  of  peace.  Calhoun,  disillusioned  at 
last  of  his  magnificent  scheme  of  1844-45,  and  too  old 
and  broken  in  health  again  to  aspire  to  the  presidency, 


116  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

was  in  his  wonted  place  and  awaiting  what  he  regarded 
as  the  onslaughts  of  the  enemies  of  his  country.  Ben- 
ton,  the  victor  over  the  combined  ability  of  the  trio  in 
1834 ;  Thomas  Corwin,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  the 
rising  Northwest ;  and  a  half-dozen  followers  of  Cal- 
houn  from  the  South, — Mason  and  Hunter  of  Virginia, 
Butler,  Yulee  and  Soule",  completed  the  list  of  leaders. 
Of  this  distinguished  assemblage,  Jefferson  Davis  was  a 
willing  and  a  welcome  member,  though  the  program 
for  which  he  now  so  inflexibly  stood  was  anything  but 
acceptable  to  the  body. 

Eecovered  somewhat  from  his  life-long  malady,  facial 
neuralgia  and  neurosis,  his  wound  of  Buena  Vista  en 
tirely  healed,  with  an  elastic  and  resolute  step  he  now 
entered  the  lists  for  his  class,  the  great  monopolists 
of  the  time.  Full  six  feet  tall,  rather  lean  of  face, 
with  large  gray-blue  eyes,  overhung  with  heavy  brows 
and  set  off  to  advantage  with  a  high  and  masterly  fore 
head,  he  appeared  as  handsome  as  resolute,  challenging 
the  attention  of  every  newcomer  and  the  confidence  of 
those  whom  he  represented. 

The  serious  situation  of  the  country  was  shown  soon 
after  Congress  opened  by  the  presentation  of  the 
Vermont  and  the  North  Carolina  resolutions.  Ver 
mont,  through  her  legislature,  declared  that  slavery 
was  a  crime  ;  that  it  could  not  be  permitted  longer  to 
exist  in  any  territory  or  under  any  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States ;  and  that  her  senators  and  representa 
tives  were  thereby  instructed  to  use  their  utmost  en 
deavors  to  carry  their  wishes  into  execution.  A  more 
significant  series  of  " instructions"  were  those  from 
North  Carolina,  a  most  conservative  Southern  state. 
On  February  6th,  Senator  Mangurn,  an  ardent  "Clay 


SLAVERY,  AND  THE  COMPROMISE      117 

Whig,"  read  a  petition,  prepared  and  signed  by  men 
assembled  in  mass  meeting  at  Wilmington,  who  were 
not  accustomed  to  take  part  in  popular  uprisings — 
men  of  property  and  most  respectable  standing  of  both 
political  parties,  yet  not  great  planters.  They  insisted 
that,  if  Congress  yielded  to  the  demands  of  the  North 
in  the  new  territories,  their  state  would  be  justified  in 
withdrawing  from  the  Union.  Mangum,  in  presenting 
the  petition,  said  emphatically:  "All  parties  in  the 
South  are  merged  on  this  question  and  will  stand 
together,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  to  defend  those  rights 
which  we  mean  to  defend,  which  we  can  defend,  and 
which  we  will  defend  at  all  hazards — at  all  hazards, 
sir."  *  He  went  on  to  report  that  the  mass  meeting 
had  issued  a  call  for  a  state  convention  in  Raleigh ; 
had  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  a  general 
Congressional  district  convention  in  March  following  ; 
and  finally  had  selected  thirteen  most  trusty  men  to  act 
in  the  meanwhile  as  a  committee  of  safety. 

Wilmington  was  then  as  now  the  largest  town  in  the 
state ;  its  citizens  had  been  the  first  to  move  in  the 
Eevolution  of  1776.  A  demonstration  like  this  had 
not  occurred  there  since  January  1,  1775.  Such  action 
at  such  a  place  was  but  typical  and  common  in  the 
early  months  of  1850  throughout  the  South,  as  that  of 
Vermont  was  equally  representative  of  Northern  feel 
ing.  Both  statesmen  and  politicians  in  Washington 
felt  on  this  occasion  a  pressure  from  their  constituents 
which  was  as  disconcerting  as  it  was  alarming.  The 
Wilmot  Proviso  had  been  and  was  now  the  touchstone 
of  elections  everywhere  and  the  representative  of  a 
Northern  community  who  did  not  approve  this  popular 
thirty-first  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Feb.  6,  1850. 


118  JEFFEKSON  DAYIS 

demand,  was  sure  of  defeat  at  the  polls  ;  similarly,  the 
Southerner  who  did  not  regard  it  as  the  consummation 
of  all  villainies  could  not  hope  to  remain  in  office. 

To  render  matters  worse  for  the  country,  Clay,  on 
his  arrival  in  Washington,  attempted  to  dictate  the 
President's  policy.  Now  Zachary  Taylor  was  the  last 
man  to  surrender  his  j  ust  prerogatives.  He  had  a  plan 
of  his  own  for  the  settlement  of  the  difficulty  before 
him ;  he  was,  besides,  the  elected  head  of  the  nation, 
and  as  a  military  man  had  been  accustomed  to  obedience 
from  subordinates.  Taylor  had  sent  an  agent  to  Cali 
fornia,  who  had  presided  at  the  birth  of  the  new  state. 
It  was  then  a  result  of  his  own  work  that  Senators 
Gwin  and  Fremont  now  appeared  at  the  doors  of  Con 
gress,  asking  admission.  As  to  New  Mexico  and  the 
Texas  boundary  dispute,  the  President  was  less  dis 
posed  than  Clay  to  yield  to  the  South. l  He  preferred 
to  let  these  matters  await  the  development  of  events, 
which,  after  the  first  months  of  1850,  was  the  view  also 
held  by  Senator  Seward,  who  had  become  a  confiden 
tial  adviser  of  the  Executive. 

Davis  had  been  intimate  with  Taylor  before  the  elec 
tion  ;  he  had  received  a  letter  from  his  former  general 
and  reconciled  father-in-law  just  previous  to  the  nom 
ination,  saying  that  the  South  must  resist  boldly  and 
decisively  the  encroachments  of  the  North.2  And  after 
the  election,  even  after  the  inauguration,  Taylor  had 
shown  a  disposition  to  consult  the  Mississippi  leader. 
But  this  expression  of  confidence  soon  changed  to  the 
passage  of  mere  social  civilities.  William  H.  Seward, 

1  James  F.  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I,  pp.  119, 121. 

2  Speech  of  Davis,  at  Raymond,  Miss.,  Oct.  1,  1848.     The  Missis 
sippi  Weekly  Independent,  Oct.  14,  1848. 


SLAVERY,  AND  THE  COMPROMISE      119 

the  rising  senator  from  New  York,  rapidly  won  his 
way  to  the  closet,  and  there  convinced  the  President 
that  Davis  and  his  followers  actually  meant  to  secede 
unless  they  succeeded  in  obtaining  what  they  regarded 
as  security  for  the  future  ;  i.  e.,  slavery  extension  west 
ward  to  the  Pacific.  Davis  could  not  now  do  otherwise 
than  hold  aloof.  He  was  sorely  disappointed,  and  the 
bitterness  of  his  feelings  found  vent  in  his  speeches  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate. 

With  these  explanatory  paragraphs,  we  are  better 
prepared  to  understand  the  role  of  Davis  in  the  inter 
minable  debates  of  the  winter,  spring,  and  summer  of 
1850.  On  January  29th,  Henry  Clay  proposed  his 
long  anticipated  plan  of  compromise.  It  offered  to 
the  North  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free  state 
and  the  settlement  of  the  Texan  boundary  dispute  so 
us  to  approve  the  New  Mexican  claims,  while  it 
declared  against  the  continuance  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia.  The  advantages  offered  to  the 
South  were  the  erection  of  a  territorial  government  in 
New  Mexico  without  a  prohibition  of  slavery  ;  the  pay 
ment  of  the  Texan  public  debt  contracted  prior  to 
annexation  ;  the  enactment  of  a  fugitive  slave  law ; 
and  a  guarantee  that  Congress  would  exercise  no  power 
over  the  interstate  slave-trade. 

These  propositions,  reasonable  enough  as  we  now 
read  them,  were  to  Davis  a  complete  surrender  of  the 
most  vital  contention.  Representatives  from  slave- 
holding  states  raise  their  voices  for  the  first  time  in  dis 
regard  of  long  admitted  rights  ;  the  senator  from  Ken 
tucky  offers  to  bribe  Texas  to  give  up  her  rightful  pos 
sessions  ;  he  denies  to  the  South  the  right  of  equality  in 
the  territories  ;  he  asks  it  to  yield  to  the  clamors  of 


120  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

Abolition.  Arguing  thus,  Davis  goes  on  to  outline 
his  own  positive  views,  which  laid  down,  as  the  first 
condition  of  peace,  that  the  line  of  36°  30'  should  be 
extended  to  the  Pacific,  his  last  demand  of  a  year  ago  ; 
that  any  citizen  of  any  state  should  have  the  right  to 
go  with  his  property  into  any  landed  possessions  of  the 
Union — the  negro  always  being  property  ;  that  the  pro 
hibition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  was  a 
direct  blow  at  the  South  ;  and  that  the  very  suggestion 
of  the  national  government's  restricting  the  inter 
state  slave-trade  was  insulting  to  this  section. 

He  was  in  accord  with  Calhoun  and  that  old  leader's 
aggressive  followers  on  every  point ;  and  the  difference 
between  the  Clay  proposal  and  his  ultimatum  was 
chasm-wide.  How  could  it  be  bridged?  Davis 
decided  not  to  allow  California  to  enter  the  Union 
without  a  clear  agreement  that  the  line  36°  30'  should 
be  extended  to  the  Pacific  with  a  positive  guarantee  of 
the  permanence  of  slavery  south  of  it.  This  was  his 
compromise :  To  yield  the  admission  of  California 
half-slave  and  half-free  and  accept  therefor  the  fee 
simple  to  all  the  new  acquisitions  south  of  that  line, 
leaving  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves  to  their  owners  to 
the  laws  of  the  border  states.  Indeed,  the  gift  of  this 
vast  region  would  not  be  satisfactory ;  he  said  later,  "  I 
wanted  all  the  country  drained  by  the  Eio  Grande," 
that  is,  when  the  treaty  of  peace  was  negotiated. 

The  exciting  debate  went  on  through  the  winter  and 
spring  and  summer.  Davis  availed  himself  of  every 
opportunity  to  accomplish  the  defeat  of  the  Clay  Com 
promise.  There  was  reason  to  expect  success.  The 
President  was  not  friendly  toward  the  plan  ;  the  North 
ern  extremists  also  desired  a  settlement  to  meet  their 


SLAVEBY,  AND  THE  COMPEOMISE      121 

own  views,  so  that  with  wise,  yet  bold  management, 
the  South  might  win.  But  the  almost  sudden  demise 
of  President  Taylor  on  July  9,  1850,  changed  the  out 
look.  The  new  President,  Fillniore,  was  under  the  in 
fluence  of  Clay.  Friends  of  the  Compromise  took 
seats  in  the  reorganized  cabinet  and  the  much- delayed 
pacification  came.  The  Whig  party  had  rallied  for 
one  short  season  ;  they  kept  together  long  enough  to 
prevent  probable  secession  on  the  part  of  the  South  and 
were  able  to  secure  a  truce  of  ten  years  between  our 
radically  divergent  civilizations.  They  exorcised  the 
Abolitionist  to  a  temporary  silence,  the  resolute 
monopolist  of  the  cotton  states  being  the  immediate 
gainer.  The  program  which  Clay  presented  at  the 
beginning  of  the  session  had  become  the  law  of  the 
land,  despite  the  impassioned  protests  of  Davis  and 
his  group.  Leading  Southern  senators  presented  in 
form,  duly  signed,  a  solemn  remonstrance  against  the 
Compromise  and  secured  its  insertion  in  the  Congres 
sional  Globe,  to  the  open  disgust  of  the  radicals  of  the 
North. 


CHAPTEE  VIII 

THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CRISIS  IN  MISSISSIPPI 

THE  interesting  question  now  was,  what  would  Davis 
do  f  He  had  been  beaten.  The  South  was  offered  a 
compromise  which  he  had  declared  to  be  insulting. 
Would  he  acquiesce  or  would  he  yield  to  his  ardent 
friends,  Ehett,  Yancey,  and  Quitman,  and  help  them 
form  a  new  confederacy  composed  of  as  many  states  as 
might  secede  from  the  Union  f  In  order  to  understand 
his  attitude  at  this  time,  it  is  necessary  to  review  some 
of  the  events  of  the  previous  year. 

Henry  S.  Foote,  his  colleague  in  the  Senate,  had 
taken  the  side  of  compromise  in  the  recent  strug 
gle  and  each  had  appealed  to  the  people  of  the  state  to 
support  him.  The  future  course  of  Davis  in  public  af 
fairs  depended  largely  on  the  issue  of  this  contest. 
When  the  two  senators  had  last  been  in  Mississippi, 
they  were  friends ;  both  had  taken  extreme  positions 
;on  the  question  of  slavery  expansion  ;  both  had  helped 

i  organize  the  state  against  accepting  any  compromise  ; 

•'  and  both  had  favored  the  movement  which  looked  to 
united  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  South.  This 
movement  had  then  seemed  to  appeal  to  all  parties  in 
Mississippi  and,  up  to  the  death  of  Calhoun  in  March, 
1850,  it  appeared  likely  that  the  coming  convention 
would  decree  Southern  independence.  In  the  Missis 
sippi  address  of  May,  1 849,  the  voice  of  Whig  and 
Democrat  alike  found  expression  ;  and  at  the  election 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CEISIS  123 

of  delegates  to  the  Southern  convention,  the  Whigs 
were  represented  in  the  person  of  Chief- Justice  Sharkey 
and  others  of  great  respectability.  Davis  had  been 
more  prominent  in  this  work  than  Foote,  but  not  more 
positively  in  favor  of  resistance. 

In  midsummer  of  1849,  Calhoun's  famous  Southern 
address  was  read  in  almost  every  home  in  Mississippi. 
There  was  little  dissent  from  its  conclusions,  which 
were  in  favor  of  secession  in  the  event  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  at  the  coming  session  of  Con 
gress.  Davis  spoke  to  a  large  concourse  at  Jackson  in 
July.  The  burden  of  his  thought  was  resistance  ;  and 
finally  on  October  12,  1849,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure 
for  Washington,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  people 
of  the  state,  outlining  in  detail  the  position  he  later 
took  on  the  Clay  Compromise.  He  closed  significantly 
enough  :  "  The  generation  which  avoids  its  responsi 
bility  on  this  subject  sows  the  wind  and  leaves  the 
whirlwind  as  a  harvest  to  its  children  ;  let  us  get  to-'; 
gether  and  build  manufactories,  enter  upon  industrial 
pursuits  and  prepare  for  our  own  self-sustenance."  l  I 
While  there  was  some  objection  to  this  aggressive 
policy,  it  was  not  strong,  and  the  leading  Whig  paper 
at  Jackson  said  :  "  The  Wilmot  Proviso  will  be  such 
a  breach  of  the  Constitution  as  to  justify  and  make  it 
the  duty  of  the  slave  states  to  take  care  of  their  own 
safety."  2 

In  leading  this  agitation,  Davis  was  in  full  possession 
of  the  confidence  of  his  people.  The  Weekly  Independ 
ent,  an  important  Whig  organ,  said  of  him  :  t '  Perhaps 
no  man  stands  higher  in  our  state  than  Jefferson  Davis. 

1  Mississippian,  October  20,  1849. 

2  The  Weekly  Independent,  October  13,  1849. 


124  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

Possessing  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  parties,  while 
true  to  his  own  political  faith,  he  yet  possesses  the 
proper  dignity  of  a  senator  and  knows  that  he  repre 
sents  Mississippi.  It  is  well  for  her  name  and  honor 
that  she  has  one  such  senator. ' '  '  The  same  paper  spoke 
of  the  mass-meeting  and  the  issues  involved  on  June 
16,  1849,  as  follows  :  "If  there  is  no  prior  settlement 
of  the  controversy,  the  action  of  President  Taylor  in 
vetoing  a  bill  (passed  by  the  Wilmot  men)  might  bring 
about  the  election  of  an  Abolition  President,  and  by 
his  election  a  hundred  questions  might  be  started  into 
active  life,  which  now  only  have  vitality  in  the  fanatic 
heart  and  madman's  brain." 

Foote  was  an  able  but  coarse  man,  unscrupulous  in 
the  use  of  offensive  language  in  debate  both  in  Congress 
and  on  campaign  tours.  He  had  migrated  early  in 
life  from  Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  to  Alabama, 
thence  to  Mississippi  in  the  "  flush  times  "  following 
the  organization  of  the  new  commonwealth.  He  won 
immediate  distinction ;  became  a  member  of  the 
Walker  wing  of  the  Democracy  and  was  chosen  to  the 
United  States  Senate  in  1847.  He  gained  such  favor 
with  the  leaders  of  that  body  as  to  receive  the  appoint 
ment  of  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Eela- 
tions,  one  of  the  most  responsible  posts  in  the  national 
legislature. 

Foote,  Davis,  and  other  stanch  Southern  expansion 
ists  lodged  together,  while  in  Washington,  in  a  "  mess" 
managed  by  a  Mrs.  Owner.  On  Christmas  Day, 
1847,  for  some  unexplained  reason,  Davis  and  Foote 
had  become  involved  in  a  personal  difficulty  which  led 
to  blows.  They  were  separated  by  friends  and  a  truce 
1  October  14,  1848. 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CEISIS  125 

was  arranged,  every  witness  being  solemnly  enjoined 
never  to  mention  the  circumstance.  Howell  Cobb, 
Abraham  W.  Veuable,  and  others  were  present  and  as 
sented  to  the  compact.  The  fisticuff  of  it-self  was  not  a 
great  matter,  but  the  fact  that  both  parties  were  lead 
ing  members  of  the  Senate  was  likely  enough  to  lend 
importance  to  it ;  and  while  they  managed  to  cover 
up  their  personal  differences  and  keep  their  secret  un 
til  1874,  and  those  who  had  been  present  never  spoke 
of  the  affair  until  requested  by  the  principals,  it  was 
morally  certain  that  the  two  could  not  labor  together 
in  the  bitter  struggle  of  1850-1851,  especially  since 
Davis  assumed  in  a  decidedly  dictatorial  manner  to 
speak  for  Mississippi. 

In  that  state,  as  well  as  in  Alabama,  the  effect  of 
Clay's  return  to  the  Senate  became  evident  in  the  early 
months  of  1850.  Old  Whigs  began  to  regret  their  part 
in  the  recent  agitation  and  inventive  journalists  sought 
a  way  out  of  the  difficulties  so  fast  thickening  around 
them.  In  several  papers  and  in  public  speeches,  the 
idea  of  leaving  the  slavery  question  in  the  new  terri 
tory  to  the  settlers  themselves  was  mooted — the  germ, 
as  will  be  recognized,  of  Douglas's  famous  "  squatter 
sovereignty  "  doctrine  of  1854.  Before  March,  1850,  a 
decided  change  in  public  opinion  in  Mississippi  be 
came  manifest.  Foote,  though  he  had  been  a  far  more 
extravagant  defender  of  slavery  than  Davis,  welcomed 
the  apparent  rift  and  espoused  the  cause  of  those  who 
opposed  radical  action  on  the  part  of  the  South.  His 
next  step  was  to  champion  Clay's  Compromise.  The 
break  with  Davis  was  now  complete.  He  denied  the 
reiterated  assertion  of  his  colleague  that  Mississippi 
stood  firm  in  her  determination  not  to  yield  to  any 


126  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

compromise.  An  appeal  to  the  voters  of  the  state  was 
natural  and  speedily  agreed  upon. 

Meanwhile,  the  time  approached  for  the  assembling 
of  the  South  in  convention  at  Nashville.  The  con 
ciliatory  policy  of  the  stronger  Democratic  party  dur 
ing  the  preceding  autumn  in  electing  former  rivals 
and  opponents  of  the  Mexican  War  as  delegates, 
begins  to  bear  fruit.  When  the  movement  cul 
minated  in  the  meeting,  it  was  found  that  those  who 
had  originated  it,  and  felt  the  pressing  need  of  action 
against  the  "  encroachment  of  the  North"  were  in  the 
minority.  The  method  of  resistance  rather  than  re 
sistance  itself  came  to  the  fore  in  the  discussion. 
South  Carolinians  desired  immediate  secession  in  the 
event  of  the  passage  of  Clay's  program  ;  but  Georgia 
held  back.  Alabama  inclined  to  the  party  of  coopera 
tion,  demanding  united  and  simultaneous  withdrawal 
of  all  the  Southern  states  from  the  Union,  which  was 
an  impossibility.  Chief-Justice  Sharkey  had  been 
made  chairman  of  the  convention  and  he  now  opposed 
radical  action  of  every  kind.  The  result  was  much 
secession  talk,  but  no  positive  resolves  ;  the  Nashville 
Convention  became  ridiculous  and  the  leading  sepa 
ratists,  Ehett  and  Yancey,  returned  to  their  homes 
discredited,  though  none  the  less  determined  in  their 
attitude.  The  former,  who  was  about  this  time  chosen 
to  Calhoun's  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate,  after  a 
few  months  in  Washington,  resigned  in  disgust  and 
retired  to  his  plantation  near  Charleston  to  be  called 
forth  in  dramatic  fashion  in  1860. 

The  Mississippi  Democrats  were  not  content  with  the 
Nashville  fiasco.  They  nominated  Quitman  for  gover 
nor  in  1851  on  the  platform  of  resistance  to  the  laws  of 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CEISIS  127 

the  Union.  This  was  such  a  challenge  to  the  reviving 
Whig  party  that  they  looked  about  for  a  leader  to 
oppose  him.  Foote,  the  former  Democrat,  answered 
the  need.  He  was  put  forward  as  a  "  Unionist "  can 
didate.  Clay  and  Webster  endorsed  him  and  Judge 
Sharkey  took  up  the  cudgels  in  his  behalf.  Quitman's 
extravagance  in  the  cause  of  state  sovereignty  and  the 
sacred  rights  of  slavery  rendered  almost  certain  his  de 
feat.  Foote  returned  to  Mississippi  in  the  spring  of 
1851  in  most  blatant  fashion.  He  met  his  rival  on  the 
stump  and  nearly  vanquished  him.  A.  few  more  en 
counters  convinced  the  Democrats  that  they  were  en 
gaged  in  a  losing  fight. 

Davis' s  challenge  to  Foote  in  the  Senate,  as  well  as 
his  general  popularity,  suggested  him  as  a  suitable 
champion.  But  he  had  already  returned  to  the  quiet 
of  "Brierfield"  and  seemed  indisposed  to  meet  his 
boastful  opponent.  Already  two  opportunities  for  a 
joint  discussion  had  been  permitted  to  pass  unimproved. l 
Had  Davis  decided  to  acquiesce  in  the  Compromise,  or 
was  it  dread  of  the  rough  and  unseemly  conduct  of 
Foote  on  the  platform  that  caused  him  to  remain 
silent  I  Events  forced  him  to  a  decision  more  rapidly 
than  he  was  wont.  The  last  legislature  had  called  a 
state  convention  to  consider  the  future  relations  of 
Mississippi  to  the  Union.  While  Foote  and  Quitman 
were  vomiting  forth  their  personal  and  political  vitu 
peration  from  Holly  Springs  to  Gulfport,  the  counties 
were  engaged  in  the  canvass  for  the  convention.  The 
questions  hotly  discussed  everywhere  were,  secession 
or  "  submission,"  and  if  the  former,  whether  by  single 

1  At  Columbus,  October  12,  1850 ;  see  Mississippian.  October  11. 
1850. 


128  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

state  action  or  cooperation.  The  result  of  the  contest, 
with  many  personal  challenges  and  actual  encounters, 
was  the  election  of  a  "Union"  convention  which  at 
once  settled  the  great  question. 

This  decisive  victory  for  the  conservatives,  as  we  may 
call  them,  caused  the  Democratic  state  committee  to 
waver  in  their  loyalty  to  Quitman,  whose  personal  un 
popularity  was  evidently  counting  against  the  cause. 
To  prevent  an  irretrievable  retreat  at  the  coming  regular 
election,  it  decided  to  ask  him  to  withdraw,  while  Davis 
was  chosen  at  this  late  day  to  take  the  leadership. 

He  entered  the  race  in  September,  with  his  party 
beaten  by  eight  thousand  majority.  Foote  called 
loudly  for  a  joint  discussion,  but  Davis  declined,  giv 
ing  ill-health  as  his  excuse. 1  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
tide  was  turning  against  extreme  measures  and  Davis 
himself  was  now  constrained  to  take  the  defensive  ;  he 
had  admitted  that  the  time  had  not  come  for  secession, 
which  was  equivalent  to  saying  that  the  Compromise 
should  be  supported.  There  was  then  no  good  reason 
for  the  Democratic  campaign.  Foote  had  kept  his  ear 
closer  to  the  ground  than  his  opponent,  though  the  lat 
ter  saw  clearly  enough  that  public  opinion  was  against 
his  cause.  But  Davis  had  been  popular  since  he  first 
appeared  on  the  public  stage.  In  the  autumn  of  1849, 
there  had  been  no  man  in  Mississippi  who  could  com 
pare  with  him,  all  parties  uniting  to  do  him  honor. 
He  entered  therefore  upon  a  vigorous  canvass,  visiting 
every  county  in  the  state.2 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  468. 

1  Letter  in  State  Department  MSS.  Washington.  These  letters 
were  recently  brought  to  light  by  Mr.  Waldo  G.  Leland,  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution,  Washington. 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CEISIS  129 

Foote  was  elected  governor  by  a  majority  of  one 
thousand,  and  the  exciting  struggle  was  at  an  end. 
The  defeated  candidate  had  already  indicated  that 
he  would  accept  the  new  conditions  and  was  now  a 
stranded  politician.  His  successful  rival  did  not  fail 
to  boast  of  the  victory  over  "  General "  Davis.  It  was 
indeed  the  first  defeat  he  had  ever  met,  and  it  must 
have  been  a  bitter  one,  for  not  only  the  South,  but  the 
nation  at  large  had  closely  watched  the  Mississippi 
campaign.  Like  Thomas  Jefferson,  his  political 
patron  saint,  he  repaired  to  his  plantation  to  cultivate 
the  soil  and  meditate  upon  the  means  of  avoiding  the 
repetition  of  such  a  disaster. 


CHAPTER  IX 
\V 

IN  THE   CABINET 

THE  nomination  of  Franklin  Pierce  in  1852  by  the 
Democratic  national  convention  was  the  result  of  a 
carefully  laid  plan  of  Massachusetts  and  Southern 
Democrats.  After  four  days  of  earnest  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  old  politicians  to  secure  the  great  honor  for 
Cass  or  Buchanan  or  Douglas  or  Marcy,  leaders  whose 
prominence  and  party  services  could  not  be  disputed, 
the  name  of  the  New  Hampshire  militia  general,  who 
had  seen  some  service  in  Mexico  under  General  Scott, 
was  brought  to  public  attention  by  the  loud  hurrahs  of 
the  Virginia  delegates.  On  the  fifth  day  of  the  session, 
a  stampede  for  Pierce  secured  him  the  nomination. 
To  appease  the  Northern  Democrats,  who  had  approved 
the  course  of  events  in  1850,  and  to  weaken  the 
Southern  Whigs,  a  champion  of  Clay's  last  great  com 
promise,  William  E.  King  of  Alabama,  was  given  the 
second  place  on  the  ticket.  The  convention  closed 
with  a  love  feast  and  the  succeeding  campaign  was 
conducted  on  the  specific  assurance  that  he  who  even 
mentioned  the  now  officially  "dead"  slavery  issue 
should  be  forever  ostracised.  The  November  elections 
proved  conclusively  that  the  sober  sense  of  the  nation 
was  with  the  Democrats.  General  Scott,  the  fourth 
military  hero  of  recent  presidential  campaigns,  unlike 
his  predecessors,  was  overwhelmingly  beaten— the 
worst  defeat  since  1820. 


IN  THE  CABINET  131 

In  this  remarkable  canvass,  Davis  took  a  conspicu 
ous  part,  making  speeches  in  Louisiana,  Mississippi, 
and  Tennessee.  Such  activity  was  a  repudiation  of  his 
doctrine  of  resistance  so  strenuously  advocated  in  1851. 
His  explanation  of  the  seeming  inconsistency  of  his 
course  was  his  readiness  to  accept  the  popular  ver 
dict  as  final  and  to  put  himself  in  harmony  with  the 
majority  of  his  people — the  doctrine  which  his  career 
continued  to  exemplify  with  far-reaching  consequences 
in  1861. 

The  result  of  the  election  was  to  give  the  Democracy 
carte  blanche,  with  promises  of  a  long  lease  of  power  in 
the  years  to  come.  As  in  1844,  the  "dark  horse" 
candidate,  after  coming  to  the  President's  chair,  in 
augurated  the  most  important  policies.  Davis  was 
suggested  to  Pierce  for  a  cabinet  position,1  we  are  told, 
by  Caleb  Gushing  of  Massachusetts.  This  fact,  how 
ever,  is  not  firmly  established.  The  proposition  was 
made  the  Mississippian  at  the  close  of  the  year  and 
declined.  Later  the  President-elect  wrote  him  to  come 
to  Washington,  if  possible,  for  the  inauguration. 
This  request  was  heeded  and  as  a  result  of  the  personal 
interviews  which  followed,  Jefferson  Davis  became 
Secretary  of  War.  There  was  no  Southern  protest 
against  this  appointment.  It  was  regarded  as  a  recog 
nition  of  the  states'  rights  wing  of  the  successful  party, 
as  it  also  gracefully  testified  to  the  strong  friendship 
existing  between  the  two  men.  It  really  meant  the 
introduction  into  the  administration  program  of  Cal- 
houn's  comprehensive  ideas  of  1845.  Naturally  the 
North  was  not  satisfied  with  Davis,  because  of  his  sign 
ing,  with  Mason,  Hunter,  and  others,  the  protest  of 
1  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I,  p.  393. 


132  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

1850. l  Still  there  was  no  outcry,  for  had  not  everybody 
voted  the  Democratic  ticket  ?  And  the  new  Secretary 
was  the  foremost  Southern  Democrat.  The  other  mem 
bers  of  this  notable  cabinet  were  William  L.  Marcy, 
whom  Davis  did  not  like  and  whose  appointment 
was  held  up  some  days,  possibly  on  this  account  j 
James  Guthrie,  of  Kentucky  ;  James  C.  Dobbin,  of 
North  Carolina ;  Eobert  McClelland,  of  Michigan  ; 
James  Campbell,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  and  the  able  Caleb 
Gushing,  of  Boston.  Marcy,  Davis,  and  Gushing  were 
the  forceful  members,  the  primacy  in  influence  over 
Pierce  resting  with  the  Secretary  of  War.  In  fact, 
Davis  could  not  have  been  a  member  of  any  political 
body  without  largely  dictating  its  course  of  action. 
He  was  at  this  time  enjoying  the  best  of  health  ;  in 
tellectually  he  was  in  his  prime  and  morally  there  was 
hardly  a  more  commanding  character  in  the  country. 
"I  had  in  my  imagination,"  writes  Carl  Schurz, 
"  formed  a  high  idea  of  what  a  grand  personage  the 
War  Minister  of  this  great  republic  must  be.  I  was 
not  disappointed.  There  was  in  his  bearing  a  dignity 
which  seemed  entirely  natural  and  unaffected — that 
kind  of  dignity  which  does  not  invite  familiar  approach 
but  will  not  render  one  uneasy  by  lofty  assumption."  2 
As  to  fitness  for  his  position  there  was  nowhere,  not 
even  among  his  most  inveterate  opponents,  the  slight 
est  doubt.  His  West  Point  training,  his  long  ap 
prenticeship  in  the  regular  army,  and  his  distinguished 
career  in  Mexico,  were  sufficient  guarantees.  There 
had  not  been  another  such  Secretary  of  War  since 
Calhoun  served  under  Monroe,  and  even  the  South 

1  Ante,  p.  121. 

•  Letter  of  Carl  Sohurz  to  the  author,  Dec.  23,  1904. 


IN  THE  CABINET  133 

Carolinian,  deficient  as  he  was  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
details  of  the  proper  organization  of  an  army,  must 
not  be  placed  above  him. 

Davis  was  not  slow  to  show  forth  his  fitness ;  he  re 
vised  the  regulations  of  the  service,  introduced  new 
tactics,  and  caused  the  infantry  to  be  provided  with 
rifles  constructed  on  the  latest  models,  such  as,  for 
example,  his  regiment  had  used  with  telling  effect  in 
the  campaigns  of  Monterey  and  Buena  Vista.  The 
"Minie"  ball,  so  familiar  to  every  soldier  of  a  later 
day,  was  an  innovation  of  his,  as  was  likewise  the 
medical  corps.  He  experimented  with  the  camel,  in 
the  hope  of  bringing  our  distant  western  posts  closer 
together  ;  and  he  dreamed  of  changing  the  methods  of 
promotion  so  that  merit,  and  not  age,  should  determine 
rank  in  the  service.  But  in  this  he  failed.  Seniority 
still  retains  its  accustomed  place  in  the  American 
army,  and  as  for  Davis7  s  predilection,  we  shall  see 
what  sad  havoc  it  wrought  for  him  and  his  cause  a 
decade  later. 

Still  other  schemes  revolved  in  the  brain  of  this  im 
perious  man  from  the  lower  South.  His  old  school 
fellow,  Eobert  E.  Lee,  was  superintendent  of  the  na 
tional  military  academy,  while  Davis  was  Secretary  of 
War.  They  decided  to  introduce  extensive  improve 
ments,  which  should  make  West  Point  the  equal  of  any 
other  military  school  in  the  world.  New  quarters  for 
the  officers,  detailed  to  teach  at  their  alma  mater,  were 
recommended  by  Lee,  and  Davis  successfully  urged 
Congress  to  make  the  necessary  appropriations.  The 
best  men,  said  they,  must  be  sent  to  West  Point  to 
train  the  young  cadets,  who  must  also  have  improved 
hospital  service.  Davis  found  the  actual  strength  of 


134  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

the  regular  army  11,000  officers  and  men ;  he  raised 
it  to  15,000  effectives,  with  17,000  on  the  rolls.  He 
planned  larger  and  stronger  fortresses  at  important 
and  exposed  points  without  favoritism 1  to  his  own  sec 
tion  ;  and  he  secured  what  was  but  a  just  increase  of 
pay  to  rank,  file,  and  field,  salaries  having  remained 
stationary  during  the  last  twenty -five  years,  while,  as 
he  thought,  the  cost  of  living,  due  to  the  increase  of 
gold  and  silver,  had  advanced  at  least  forty  per  cent. 

These  were  all  matters  of  detail,  yet  their  prompt 
and  decisive  execution  infused  a  new  spirit  into  the 
army,  and  officers  and  men  remembered  with  gratitude 
the  era  created  by  "their  own  man77  in  the  War  De 
partment  until  the  bloody  years  of  1861  to  1865  em 
bittered  their  minds.  The  army  became  another  and 
different  organization,  and  Congress,  responsive  to 
these  legitimate  demands,  made  liberal  appropriations 
in  order  that  the  able  Secretary  might  have  his  own 
way.  They  even  entrusted  new  duties  to  his  Depart 
ment  :  the  improvements  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
were  left  to  his  supervision,  and  the  annex  to  the 
Capitol— the  completion  of  the  magnificent  building  as 
we  now  see  it — was  planned  and  executed  under  the 
direction  of  Jefferson  Davis.  "  Cabin  John  Bridge" 
was  also  his  work  and  his  name  used  to  adorn  one  of 
the  great  stones  of  that  then  broadest  arch  in  the 
world ;  but  Congress,  in  one  of  its  fits  of  meanness, 
such  as  invented  the  excuse  of  confiscating  Eobert  E. 
Lee's  estates,  ordered  it  to  be  erased.  The  bridge  itself 
stands  as  of  yore  and  bears  its  daily  burden  of  busy 
humanity  and  hurrying  commerce. 

1  See  reports  of  Secretary  of  War  to  33d  Congress,  1st  and  2d 
Sessions ;  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  Chapters  XXXIV  and  XXXV. 


IN  THE  CABINET  135 

But  the  master  hand  was  seen  in  the  policy  of  the 
administration  rather  than  in  the  important  matters 
just  described.  Like  Polk,  Pierce  was  an  imperialist. 
He  desired  the  expansion  of  the  boundaries  of  the 
Union,  and,  realizing  that  Canada  could  hardly  be 
won,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  South,  where  Davis 
had  long  been  pointing  out  the  road  to  national  ag 
grandizement.  Cuba,  the  Mesilla  Valley,  a  region 
embracing  45,000  square  miles  south  of  New  Mexico, 
and  Central  America  were  the  objects  of  his  ambition, 
and  any  fair,  possibly  some  foul,  means  would  have 
been  resorted  to  in  order  to  acquire  them. 

The  relations  between  the  President  and  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  were  of  a  most  intimate  character.  They 
had  been  friends  for  some  time  and  acquaintances  since 
the  winter  of  1836-37. '  Both  were  Democrats  of  the 
school  of  1844  ;  both  had  helped  on  the  expansionist 
program  in  that  year ;  and  whatever  Davis  really  de 
sired,  Pierce  was  apt  to  grant. 

The  Baltimore  convention  of  1844  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  more  radical  Southern  politicians,  whose 
leading  policy  had  been  the  expansion  of  the  South. 
They  had  satisfied  the  Northwest  with  fine  promises 
and  won  the  election,  then  carrying  the  flag  of  the 
Union  victoriously  to  the  capital  of  Mexico.  They  had 
annexed  as  much  Mexican  territory  as  was  thought  de 
sirable,  and  not  even  the  New  Englanders  dared  re 
pudiate  their  work.  Only  the  popularity  of  a  military 
hero  had  won  from  them  the  elections  of  1848,  and  not 
withstanding  the  bitterness  of  the  contest  of  1850  over 
the  status  of  slavery,  practically  the  whole  country  ac 
cepted  the  Democratic,  not  the  Whig,  program.  Thus 
1  Mrs.  Davis's  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  369. 


136  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

those  who  opposed  expansion  had  been  relegated  to 
back  seats  in  the  national  legislature,  when  they  had 
not  been  turned  out  altogether.  Indeed,  the  time  had 
never  been  when  the  people  would  repudiate  leaders 
who  had  pleaded  for  a  "  Greater  America";  why 
should  they  change  their  attitude  now  ? 

Thus  Davis  reasoned  as  he  reentered  political  life 
on  the  invitation  of  his  friend  from  New  Hampshire. 
That  the  Constitution  set  no  metes  and  bounds  to  our 
lusty  young  republic  he  fully  believed.1  He  had  not 
been  satisfied  wirh  the  modest  acquisitions  of  1848 ; 
why  should  he  not  now  reach  out  to  Panama  and  the 
islands  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ? 

The  one  objection  which  could  be  made  was  that  the 
annexation  of  new  lands  in  those  regions  would  raise 
once  more  the  slavery  question  ;  for  Cuba  and  Mexico, 
if  acquired,  would,  in  all  probability,  offer  themselves 
as  slave  states.  Certainly  the  former  would  do  this, 
and  the  latter  might  safely  be  entrusted  to  the  care  of 
such  vigorous  propagandists  as  William  Walker  and 
John  A.  Quitman.  If  the  Northern  people  did  object 
to  this  one- sided  growth  of  the  country,  would  not 
time  reconcile  them  as  it  had  done  in  regard  to  Texas 
and  New  Mexico  I  Such  was  the  lesson  of  recent  poli 
tics.  And  as  to  slavery  itself  and  its  final  effect  on  the 
South,  Davis  had  no  scruples  and  few  fears.  As  will 
be  seen  in  the  next  chapter  of  his  life,  he  was  rapidly 
coming  to  believe  that  it  was  a  blessing  both  to  the 
negro  and  his  master,  and  that  consequently -the  coun 
try  must  one  day  seek  to  expand  rather  than  restrict 
the  ."institution." 

With  these  well-fixed  views  in  mind,  Davis  at  once 
1  Davis's  speeches  on  Oregon  and  other  debates  of  1847-48. 


IN  THE  CABINET  137 

began  to  shape  the  course  of  the  administration  for  their 
realization.  He  secured  the  appointment  of  Soule, 
senator  from  Louisiana,  and  a  co-protestaut  with  Davis 
against  the  Compromise  of  1850,  to  the  Spanish  mis 
sion.  If  there  was  one  thing  that  Soule  desired  above 
all  others  it  was  the  annexation  of  Cuba.  Marcy,  the 
Secretary  of  State,  opposed  the  appointment  of  such  an 
avowed  expansionist,  especially  to  the  court  of  the 
kingdom  which  he  so  ardently  wished  to  despoil.  But 
Davis  and  President  Pierce  prevailed,  and  Marcy 
made  out  the  commission.  John  Y.  Mason,  of  Vir 
ginia,  was  also  an  advocate  of  Cuban  annexation.  He 
had  served  in  the  cabinet  of  Polk  and  was  not  likely 
to  oppose  the  purchase  or  seizure  of  any  portion  of 
Mexico  which  that  unfortunate  country  might  not  be 
able  to  govern  satisfactorily.  Mason  was  suggested  to 
Marcy  by  Davis  as  the  minister  to  the  court  of  Napo 
leon  III. '  James  Buchanan,  the  new  Minister  to  Eng 
land,  was  a  Northern  expansionist.  He  had  preemi 
nent  claims  on  the  party.  There  is  no  proof  that 
Davis  named  him  for  the  post  at  the  court  of  St. 
James;  but  he  certainly  did  not  oppose  the  sturdy 
Pennsylvania  partisan  who  had  done  such  valiant 
service  in  the  cabinet  of  President  Polk.  Even  Marcy 
himself  thought  that  two  new  stars  ready  to  be  set  in 
the  American  crown  of  states — wrested  from  the  grasp 
of  decrepit  Spain — would  be  a  drawing  card  for  the 
Secretary  of  State  at  the  next  Democratic  convention, 
and  he  lent  all  his  great  ability  to  the  accomplishment 
of  the  plans  of  his  able  rival  from  Mississippi,  notwith- 

1  See  letter  of  Mason  to  Davis,  thanking  him  for  his  appointment, 
written  from  Virginia  in  March  of  1853,  in  State  Department 
archives. 


138  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

standing  their  personal  dislikes.  Other  leaders  of  the 
party  outside  of  the  cabinet  favored  the  new  schemes, 
all  forgetting,  it  would  seem,  that  the  decision  of  the 
people  in  their  recent  elections  was  based  upon  the 
tacit  and  avowed  assurance  that  negro  slavery  was 
henceforth  never  again  to  be  discussed  in  Congress  or 
in  the  country  at  large.  Within  a  period  of  six  months 
the  chief  aim  of  the  administration  was  one  which 
would  involve  the  renewal  of  all  the  antagonisms  of 
1850. 

Soule  had  scarcely  arranged  his  household  in  Madrid 
when  the  Black  Warrior,  an  American  trader  plying 
between  New  York,  Havana  and  Mobile,  was  seized 
off  the  coast  of  Cuba  and  unlawfully  ordered  to  give  up 
her  cargo — $100, 000  worth  of  cotton — on  the  plea  that 
she  had  violated  the  tariff  laws  of  Spain.  A  fine  of 
$6,000  was  also  laid  upon  the  captain  of  the  ship. 
That  the  crew  had  been  guilty  of  irregularities  was  not 
disputed  ;  but  the  demands  of  the  Cuban  officials  were 
outrageous.  Eather  than  submit  to  search  and  the 
heavy  fine,  the  ship  itself  was  surrendered  by  its  officers. 
This  occurred  in  February.  In  April  Soule"  presented 
a  categorical  demand  that  before  the  expiration  of 
forty -eight  hours  the  Spanish  government  must  agree 
to  pay  an  indemnity  of  $300,000  and  dismiss  every  one 
who  had  been  officially  concerned  in  the  affair.  A  re 
fusal  meant  that  the  United  States  must  either  go  to 
war  about  this  insignificant  incident  or  repudiate  the 
action  of  her  minister.  Spain  declined  to  reply  to 
Soule",  who  was  left  practically  suspended  from  office 
from  April  till  late  summer,  when  he  was  ordered  to 
meet  Mason  and  Buchanan  in  Paris,  with  a  view  to 
elaborating  an  American  policy  for  the  West  Indies. 


IN  THE  CABINET  139 

Before  taking  his  departure,  he  gave  the  Spanish  court 
the  comforting  assurance  that  the  United  States  would 
purchase  and  pay  liberally  for  the  coveted  "Pearl  of 
the  Antilles." 

After  full  discussion,  the  three  ministers  issued  from 
Osteud,  October  18,  1854,  their  famous  manifesto 
which  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  a  master-stroke  in 
diplomacy.  This  remarkable  paper,  which  was  proba 
bly  the  product  of  Soule's  pen,  declared  in  effect  that 
' t  Cuba  lay  close  to  our  doors,  therefore  it  should  be 
ours  ;  that,  however,  the  American  government  would 
buy  the  island  at  a  good  price  if  it  were  disposed  of 
promptly,  otherwise  it  would  be  seized  without  re 
muneration."  One  thing  must  be  said  in  Soule's  be 
half:  he  broke  down  all  the  ordinary  restraints  of 
formal  diplomacy  and  told  Europe  just  what  his  nation 
wished  to  do.  There  was  no  mistaking  the  purpose 
of  this  bold  American  representative. 

When  Marcy  received  the  report  of  this  conference, 
he  was  not  at  all  pleased.  Such  placarding  of  one's 
plans  was  highly  questionable  in  the  mind  of  so  shrewd 
a  man  as  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  only  a  short  time 
elapsed  before  the  imperious  Louisianian  was  recalled. 
Meanwhile  the  Spanish  government  had  settled  the 
claims  of  the  owners  of  the  Black  Warrior,  without  re 
sorting  to  diplomatic  methods.  The  incident  was 
closed  and  Cuba  remained  in  the  undisputed  possession 
of  its  ancient  proprietor. 

Even  before  this  difficulty  arose,  John  A.  Quitman 
prepared  to  bring  powerful  aid  to  the  policy  of  the 
government  by  leading  an  expedition  to  Cuba  for  the 
purpose  of  attack.  To  advance  this  cause,  Senator 
Slidell,  of  Louisiana,  introduced  into  the  United  States 


140  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Senate  a  resolution,  temporarily  suspending  the 
neutrality  laws  of  the  country.  This  effort  failed  ;  but 
much  interest  was  felt  in  the  Quitman  enterprise. 
Men  and  money  were  supplied  and  all  eyes  were  turn 
ing  to  Cuba.  When  Soule  was  recalled,  very  much 
against  the  will  of  Davis,  an  order  went  out  from  the 
President's  office,  warning  the  people  against  the  fili 
bustering  expedition.  The  doughty  Quitman  was  ar 
rested,  brought  before  the  United  States  court  in  New 
Orleans,  and  required  to  give  security  for  his  future 
good  conduct  and  the  observance  of  the  neutrality  laws 
of  the  nation.  The  Secretary  of  War  yielded  with  as 
good  a  grace  as  possible  to  Soule' s  return,  knowing 
that  this  did  not  mean  a  repudiation  of  his  general 
views.  The  North  cordially  enjoyed  the  disgrace  of 
the  late  minister,  and  the  South  rewarded  the  lawless 
ness  of  Quitman  with  a  seat  in  Congress.  But  the 
policy  which  lay  so  close  to  Davis' s  heart  must  be 
temporarily  abandoned. 

The  attention  of  the  administration  had  meanwhile 
been  directed  to  the  extension  of  our  southern  boundary. 
The  Mesilla  Valley,  as  has  been  said,  was  another  ob 
ject  of  our  growing  appetite.  The  treaty  of  Hidalgo 
Guadaloupe  had  not  proved,  in  all  respects,  satisfac 
tory  :  one  of  its  clauses  bound  the  United  States  for 
the  protection  of  Mexico  against  Indian  depredations  ; 
but  the  red  men  had  been  no  respecters  of  persons. 
They  plundered  Mexican  and  remote  American  settle 
ments  with  the  utmost  impartiality.  Consequently  a 
number  of  claims  had  been  presented  to  the  Washing 
ton  authorities.  It  soon  came  to  be  regarded  as  an  un 
fortunate  thing  that  the  United  States  must  protect 
the  Mexicans  against  invasion  by  American  savages. 


IN  THE  CABINET  141 

Why  not  leave  that  to  Mexico !  A  second  considera 
tion  was  the  fact  that  the  topography  of  New  Mexico 
was  very  unfavorable  to  the  building  of  a  transconti 
nental  railway  to  California.  By  crossing  the  boundary 
into  northern  Mexico  an  excellent  route  could  be  found. 
Why  should  not  the  United  States  own  all  the  land  over 
and  through  which  the  road  was  to  be  constructed  ? 
And  lastly,  the  acquisition  of  a  large  region  in  this 
latitude  would  probably  redound  to  the  benefit  of  the 
South— the  home  of  the  expansionists.  James  Gads- 
den,  an  energetic  South  Carolina  politician,  was  there 
fore  dispatched  to  Mexico  to  obtain  such  changes  of  the 
treaty  of  1848  and  such  concessions  of  new  territory  as 
should  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  administration.  In 
order  to  make  these  propositions  more  palatable  to  the 
Mexican  authorities,  the  commissioner  was  empowered 
to  offer  a  large  sum  of  ready  cash — $10,000,000.  He 
was  highly  successful  in  his  negotiation.  The  desired 
alterations  were  made  in  the  treaty  of  1848,  and  a 
valuable  strip  of  country  was  annexed,  while  the 
Mexicans  were  induced  to  assume  the  responsibility  for 
their  own  defense.  The  new  treaty  was  agreed  upon 
and  sent  to  Washington  in  the  early  days  of  January, 
1854.  It  was  ratified  without  difficulty  by  a  friendly 
Senate. 

The  next  project  in  which  Davis,  rather  than  the  ad 
ministration  as  such  was  interested,  was  the  establish 
ment  of  a  protectorate  over  Central  America  and  cer 
tain  parts  of  Nicaragua.  Nearly  all  intercourse  with 
California  and  the  Pacific  possessions  of  the  country  was 
conducted  over  the  Nicaragua  route ;  i.  e. ,  travelers, 
emigrants,  and  freight  were  taken  on  board  ships  at 
Greytown  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  carried  to  the  mouth 


142  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

of  the  San  Juan  Biver,  whence  the  way  led  across 
Lake  Nicaragua  and  a  narrow  strip  of  laud  to  the 
Pacific  and  from  there  by  water  to  the  Golden  Gate  of 
San  Francisco.  England  had  exercised  some  sort  of 
jurisdiction  over  a  portion  of  Nicaragua  known  as  the 
Mosquito  Coast.  Americans  felt  that  this  meant  an  at 
tempt  to  gain  possession  of  the  routes  to  the  Pacific 
and  thus  hamper  control  of  their  new  western  posses 
sions — especially  in  the  event  of  war. 

In  the  many  revolutions  which  occurred  in  this 
region  of  petty  strife,  there  was  naturally  a  chance  for 
an  enterprising  foreigner  to  establish  himself,  and 
finally  bring  about  close  relations  with  his  own  govern 
ment.  Such  a  person  appeared  in  1855  in  the  vigorous 
and  able  chieftain,  William  Walker,  a  Southerner  of 
the  Quitman  type.  Walker  was  invited  by  the  weaker 
party  in  a  conflict  then  waging  in  Nicaragua  to  bring 
what  aid  he  could  and,  in  case  of  common  success,  to 
receive  his  share  of  the  rewards.  He  hastened  to  accept 
the  offer,  adding  a  company  of  Americans  to  the  forces 
of  his  allies,  and  won  for  them  a  victory  which  was 
fruitful  for  him  in  that  he  was  made  dictator  of  a  por 
tion  of  Nicaragua  for  a  year.  Davis  was  interested  in 
Walker  and  favorable  to  his  schemes  for  he  saw  in 
them  the  opportunity  to  take  the  initial  steps  for  a 
future  canal  or  railway ;  but  could  not  of  course  in 
tervene  to  prevent  the  filibuster's  early  defeat  and 
banishment. 

Southern  extremists,  such  as  the  Ehetts  of  South 
Carolina,  Quitman  now  in  the  House,  Slidell  and  Ben 
jamin  in  the  Senate,  took  up  Walker's  cause.  The 
Charleston  Mercury  proclaimed  him  a  hero  and  bene 
factor  of  mankind.  Had  he  succeeded,  he  planned  to 


IN  THE  CABINET  143 

make  Nicaragua  a  slave  state  and  if  possible  bring  it 
into  organic  relations  with  the  United  States  ;  but  the 
dictator  of  a  single  year  found  that  the  quicksands  of 
Spanish- American  statesmanship  were  shifting  again. 
He  was  forced  to  leave  his  little  republic,  as  it  was 
called,  and  find  consolation  in  laying  broader  and 
more  far-reaching  plans  for  future  success.  Walker 
and  his  filibustering  expeditions  remained  a  disturbing 
factor  in  American  politics  during  the  succeeding  half 
decade,  when  finally  he  lost  his  life  in  1860,  still  trying 
to  carve  a  slave-state  out  of  the  chaotic  map  of  Central 
America.  Under  the  rising  tide  of  Northern  opposi 
tion  Davis  was  unable  to  accomplish  anything  either 
through  Walker  or  otherwise  and  he  gave  up  reluc 
tantly  plans  which  have  with  modifications  become  a 
part  of  our  national  policy. 

On  July  18,  1853,  before  the  new  administration  had 
got  well  into  the  harness,  Davis  made  a  speech  in 
Philadelphia  in  which  he  announced,  on  behalf  of  his 
"  honored  chief, "  that  no  schemes  for  local  internal 
improvements  would  be  approved,  the  President  being 
opposed  to  the  principle  involved.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  plan  to  assist  in  the  building  of  a  railway  to  the  Pa 
cific,  beginning  at  Memphis  and  following  the  lower 
route  to  California,  would  receive  his  hearty  sanction. 
He  made  haste  to  say,  however,  that  such  an  under 
taking,  involving  probably  a  hundred  millions  of  dol 
lars,  could  not  be  prosecuted  under  the  famous  "  gen 
eral  welfare  "  clause  of  the  Constitution,  but  only 
under  the  powers  granted  for  the  public  defense,  within 
the  states  and  especially  in  the  territories  ;  that  is,  the 
railway  was  to  be  built  as  a  military  necessity.  The 
national  government  had  no  authority  to  clear  the 


AT 


144  JEPFEKSON  DAVIS 


channel  of  the  Mississippi,  or  to  construct  a  road  for 
the  public  good,  yet  possessed  the  power  to  do  both 
these  things  under  the  grant  requiring  it  to  provide  for 
the  public  defense. 

Calhoun,  as  we  have  already  seen,  had  taken  the 
same  position  at  Memphis  when  he  said  that  national 
funds  could  be  used  in  the  improvement  of  the  Missis 
sippi  and  its  tributaries  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
to  be  regarded  as  "  inland  seas,"  the  nation  unques 
tionably  being  free  to  spend  money  in  building  light 
houses  and  removing  obstructions  in  the  channels  of 
harbors,  no  matter  where  they  were  located.  Davis 
changed  the  reasoning  at  a  single  point  :  for  military 
purposes  internal  improvements  could  be  undertaken 
in  states  and  territories  as  well  as  "  inland  seas." 
When  Calhoun  made  his  Memphis  speech,  he  had 
in  view  the  consolidation  of  the  South  and  West  as 
against  the  North  and  East.  At  Philadelphia,  Davis 
was  planning  for  the  same  thing:  a  great  railway 
from  Memphis  to  California  would  empty  the  com 
merce  of  the  growing  West  into  the  holds  of  lower 
Mississippi  boats.  Vicksburg  and  New  Orleans  would 
be  much  benefited.  A  railroad  from  Memphis  to 
Charleston,  via  Montgomery  and  Atlanta,  was  already 
in  part  constructed  ;  another  was  planned  via  Jackson 
to  Mobile.  The  political  effect  of  such  a  development 
would  have  been  incalculable  :  Tennessee  would  have 
been  linked  to  the  lower  South  ;  Kentucky  would  have 
leaned  the  same  way  ;  the  growth  of  the  Southwest  in- 
'stead  of  the  Northwest  would  have  been  fostered  as 
a  result  of  national  initiative  ;  and  the  commerce  o£ 
Illinois  and  Indiana  would  also  have  been  drawn  south 
ward  rather  than  over  the  mountains  or  through  the 


IN  THE  CABINET  146 

Erie  Canal  to  New  York.  Davis  was  planning  for 
the  South  as  Calhoun  had  done,  but  with  far  greater 
chance  of  achievement.  Had  he  been  successful  it  is 
interesting  to  speculate  as  to  the  result  of  the  Civil 
War,  if  indeed  that  great  struggle  had  ever  been 
entered  upon. 

When  Congress  assembled  in  December,  1853,  the 
President  strongly  commended  the  project  just  outlined, 
making  it  the  feature  of  his  first  annual  message  and 
the  leading  item  in  his  policy  for  the  coming  four 
years.  After  proving — at  least  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  Democratic  party — that  internal  improvements 
were  by  no  means  permissible  except  to  the  states,  Mr. 
Pierce  went  on  to  say  : 

"  For  the  progress  made  in  the  construction  of  roads 
within  the  territories,  I  refer  you  to  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  War.  .  .  .  The  power  i  to  declare  war, 
to  raise  and  support  armies,  to  provide  and  maintain  a 
navy,  and  to  call  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws, 
suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions,'  was  con 
ferred  upon  Congress  as  a  means  to  provide  for  the 
common  defense  and  to  protect  a  territory  and  a  popu 
lation  now  wide-spread  and  vastly  multiplied.  As  in 
cidental  to  and  indispensable  for  the  exercise  of  this 
power,  it  must  sometimes  be  necessary  to  construct 
military  roads  and  protect  harbors  of  refuge.  To  ap 
propriations  by  Congress  for  such  objects,  no  sound 
objection  can  be  made.  .  .  .  The  magnitude  of  the 
enterprise  [the  Southern  Pacific  Eailway]  contemplated 
has  aroused  and  will  doubtless  continue  to  excite  a 
very  general  interest  throughout  the  country.  In  its 
political,  its  commercial,  and  its  military  bearings,  it 
has  varied,  great,  and  increasing  claims  to  considera- 


146  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

tion.  The  heavy  expense,  the  great  delay,  and,  at 
times  fatality  attending  travel  by  either  of  the  Isthmus 
routes,  have  demonstrated  the  advantage  which  would 
result  from  inter -territorial  communication  by  such 
safe  and  rapid  means  as  a  railroad  would  supply."  l 

Henry  Clay  himself  could  not  have  surpassed  this 
reasoning  of  his  Democratic  opponents,  now  come  to 
power.  This  remarkable  message  fell  upon  willing 
ears,  since  the  Democrats  were  in  control  of  both 
houses  by  large  majorities.  Behind  the  administra 
tion  was  a  settled  and  prosperous  people,  tired  of 
agitation  and  trusting  fully  in  the  leaders  to  whom 
they  had  recently  given  over  the  government.  It  can 
not  reasonably  be  doubted  that  this  principal  recom 
mendation  of  Pierce' s  program  would  have  received 
endorsement ;  appropriations  would  have  been  made 
and  public  attention  would  have  turned  to  this  vast 
work  of  internal  improvement,  but  for  the  reopening 
of  the  slavery  dispute.  The  results  could  not  have 
failed  to  be  beneficial.  In  a  political  sense,  they 
must  have  tended  greatly  to  increase  the  power  of  the 
South.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  Pierce  would  have  been 
reflected,  and  that  his  party  would  have  obtained  such 
a  hold  on  the  country  as  could  not  have  been  broken 
in  two  decades.  Such  was  certainly  the  hope  of  Davis, 
for  in  this  state  of  things  he  could  not  have  failed  to 
reap  suitable  rewards  for  his  bold  and  able  adminis 
tration. 

The  best  of  plans  "gang  aft  a-gley."  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  was  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee  on  ter 
ritories,  and  the  vast  tract  then  known  as  Nebraska, 

1  Richardson.  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents.  Vol.  V.  pp. 
220-222. 


IN  THE  CABINET  147 

embracing  an  area  equivalent  to  a  dozen  states,  was 
already  so  well  settled  that  preparations  were  making 
for  its  organization  as  a  territory.  Under  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  as  generally  understood,  no  question 
could  be  raised  as  to  the  exclusion  of  negro  slavery 
from  this  region.  A  bill  for  the  organization  of 
Nebraska,  making  no  reference  to  the  subject,  had 
failed  in  the  Senate  in  the  winter  of  1852-3  on  the 
ground  that  the  Indians  were  not  treated  fairly.  A 
measure  proposing  the  same  plan  was  introduced  in  the 
Senate  soon  after  it  met  in  December,  1853,  and  was 
referred  to  the  regular  committee.  Douglas  threw  it 
aside  and,  on  January  4, 1854,  reported  one  of  his  own 
invention.  This  bill  was  a  veiled  repeal  of  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  shrewdly  calculated  to  inspire  pro- 
slavery  leaders  with  zeal  for  the  aspirations  of  its 
author. 

But  Southerners  had  grown  wary  of  laws  bearing 
on  their  favorite  institution.  Douglas  declared  that 
the  compromise  measure  of  1850  had  formally  trans 
ferred  the  decision  of  slavery  disputes  in  new  posses 
sions  or  in  territories  not  regularly  organized,  to  the 
parties  most  vitally  concerned— to  the  settlers  them- 
se]  ves.  The  South  had  not  so  regarded  the  laws  of  1850  ; 
her  leaders  now  hastened  to  examine  this  new  North 
western  interpretation.  They  had  long  been  acquainted 
with  Cass's  doctrine  of  " squatter  sovereignty"  as  a 
possible  remedy  for  Wilruot  Provisos ;  but  they  had 
not  been  ardently  in  favor  of  it.  Douglas  had  bor 
rowed  the  idea  from  his  rival  and  he  now  designed  to 
attach  it  as  a  sort  of  codicil  to  the  treaty  of  peace  be 
tween  the  sections,  agreed  upon  with  so  much  difficulty 
four  years  before.  It  was  a  manosuvre  for  the  Demo- 


148  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

cratic  nomination  in  1856.  Should  the  South  accept 
this  strong  hint,  Douglas  would  distance  his  competi 
tors,  Pierce,  Marcy,  and  even  Cass,  and  find  himself 
safe  in  the  President's  chair  after  the  close  of  the  pres 
ent  term.  The  proposed  law  provided,  too,  that  all 
disputes  in  the  territories  as  to  the  ownership  of  slaves 
should  not  only  be  heard  in  the  local  courts  but  be 
subject  to  appeal  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
— a  suggestion  that  this  bench  should  determine  the 
status  of  slavery. 

On  January  16th,  Dixon  of  Kentucky,  "the  suc 
cessor'7  of  Henry  Clay,  advocated  an  amendment  of 
the  bill  in  such  a  way  as  to  repeal,  in  distinct  terms, 
the  slavery  section  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
Douglas  was  surprised  and  possibly  alarmed.  He 
could  not  retreat.  Dixon  represented  the  South,  now 
beginning  to  be  aroused  to  the  possibilities  of  the  new 
policy.  From  Eichmond,  Charleston,  Montgomery, 
and  other  ardent  pro-  slavery  centres,  came  urgent  rec 
ommendations  that  the  Southern  senators  should  de 
mand  the  passage  of  Douglas's  bill.  The  bold  Illinois 
leader  felt  impelled  to  meet  their  requirements,  or  yield 
forever  his  chances  for  the  presidency.  He  decided  for 
the  South  and  in  the  direction  his  ambition  pointed. 
But  the  decision  necessitated  several  days'  considera 
tion,  for  he  did  not  know  at  first  that  he  had  crossed 
the  Eubicon.  He  visited  Dixon  at  his  residence  and, 
after  long  conversation,  completed  the  plans  for  the 
further  advancement  of  the  dangerous  undertaking. 

Thus  far,  Douglas  had  operated  without  consulting 
the  President  or  any  representative  of  the  administra 
tion.  In  fact,  he  must  have  felt  that  he  was  preparing 
the  petard  that  was  to  hoist  the  popular  occupant  of 


IN  THE  CABINET  149 

the  White  House  from  his  much  coveted  seat.  Now 
that  the  hostile  sections  of  the  country  were  forcing 
his  hand,  the  Illinoisian  felt  constrained  to  approach 
Mr.  Pierce  in  the  hope  that  he  might  not  lose  both  his 
present  and  future  fights  by  a  division  of  the  party. 
It  was  indeed  a  very  ungrateful  request  to  make  of 
a  President  who  was  to  suffer  most  from  the  schemes 
thus  inaugurated.  Douglas  did  nofc  hesitate.  On  Sun 
day  morning,  January  22d,  with  some  Southern  adher 
ents,  he  called  at  the  home  of  Jefferson  Davis,  who 
conducted  them  to  the  White  House  and  procured  for 
them  an  interview,  contrary  though  it  was  to  the  cus 
tom  of  the  President,  always  conscientious  in  his  relig 
ious  scruples.1  This  was  the  most  important  act  of 
Da  vis's  cabinet  career.  It  meant  the  ruin  of  his  larger 
and  more  humane  plans,  as  it  presaged  a  future  bitter 
struggle  over  the  slavery  question.  That  he  approved 
of  the  repeal  of  the  Compromise  of  1820  cannot  be 
doubted  ;  though,  when  its  consequences  were  known, 
he  stoutly  denied  having  favored  the  scheme.  And 
Douglas  he  denounced  repeatedly  as  a  demagogue  and 
a  treacherous  man.2  The  President  gave  his  approval 
of  the  Dixon  amendment,  and  became,  with  Douglas, 
the  Northern  champion  of  slavery  expansion,  for  that 
is  what  the  bill  meant.  After  many  angry  sessions 
and  much  party  caucussing,  the  measure  passed  both 
houses  and  was  finally  approved  by  Mr.  Pierce. 

The  "  sleeping  dogs"  of  Abolition  were  unchained. 
Douglas  was  burned  in  effigy  throughout  the  North  ;  he 
became  a  hero  in  the  South.  That  his  own  section  op 
posed  repeal  was  regarded  in  Eichmond,  for  example, 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  I,  pp.  425-437. 

8  Letter  to  Pierce,  June  15,  1860,  Amer.  Hist.  Eev.,  Vol.  X,  p.  365. 


150  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

as  a  sure  sign  that  justice  could  never  be  obtained  on 
this  vital  subject.  "A  bold  attempt  is  even  now  on 
foot  to  deprive  the  South  of  every  semblance  of  equal 
ity  in  the  Union,"  said  the  Charleston  Mercury.1  "  If 
forced  to  go  out  of  the  Union,"  remarked  the  Eichmond 
Dispatch,  "[the  South]  can  go  with  colors  flying,  with 
arms  in  her  hands,  and  with  all  the  honors  of  war."  a 
From  this  time  forth  Southerners  manifested  a  fixed 
purpose  to  secede,  should  the  territorial  question  be 

i         jr  _     ..,....-7  ..    •  --— ,-a_™_~— - 

decided  permanently  against  them.  But  what  emi 
grants  they  could  spare  were  hastened  to  Kansas,  the 
lower  end  of  the  Nebraska  region.  The  North  sent 
half  a  dozen  times  as  many  more,  and  the  battle-scene 
which  Douglas  had  begun  in  the  Senate  was  shifted 
to  the  West,  where  neighborhood  war  prevailed  for  six 
years  to  come.  Thus  Davis  had  aided  in  opening  the 
very  question  which  all  had  pledged  themselves  never 
again  publicly  to  discuss.  Within  less  than  a  year 
Pierce  had  violated  ttie  pious  promises  of  his  inaugural 
speech,  and  wittingly  or  unwittingly  laid  the  founda 
tion  of  his  own  destruction  and  the  ruin  of  his  party. 
All  Davis' s  imperialistic  plans,  so  carefully  wrought 
out,  were  now  destined  to  come  to  naught. 

1  Charleston  Mercury,  February  27,  1854. 

2  Richmond  Dispatch,  March  1,    1854.     The  Dispatch  was  con 
sidered  unpartisan  and  decidedly  conservative  at  this  time. 


CHAPTEE  X 

THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

DAVIS  closed  his  administration  of  the  War  Depart 
ment  by  publishing  an  account  of  the  various  surveys 
he  had  caused  to  be  made,  of  the  possible  routes  for  a  rail 
way  connecting  the  Mississippi  Eiver  with  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  It  embraced  ten  large  octavo  volumes,  con 
taining  avast  amount  of  information  about  the  country 
which  the  road  was  to  penetrate.  Scientists  and  artists 
were  employed  in  the  engineering  parties,  and  the  re 
ports  which  they  made  of  the  plant  and  animal-life  of 
the  great  West  are  a  monument  to  the  energetic  Secre 
tary.  Davis  was  not  a  small-minded  man ;  he  loved 
ambitious  undertakings  and  he  delighted  to  employ 
scientific  men  and  to  associate  with  them.  Ten  thou 
sand  copies  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Senate 
and  five  hundred  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Davis  himself. 
Senators  found  partial  sets  of  this  large  work  on  their 
desks  when  they  met  in  December,  1857.  The  ponder 
ous  tomes  were  not  read  with  avidity  by  these  staid  and 
practical  politicians,  but  they  were  consulted  during 
the  coming  years  and  became  the  basis  of  much  dis 
cussion  and  controversy.  They  were  campaign  docu 
ments,  as  well  as  scientific  surveys,  intended  to  convince 
a  stubborn  Senate  that  it  was  best  and  most  economical 
to  build  a  railway  to  the  Pacific  via  the  Gila  Valley 
and  the  Southern  passes  of  the  Eocky  Mountains. 

Davis  had  been  hopeful  of  being  elected  to  the 


152  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Senate  by  the  Mississippi  legislature  in  1854  when 
A.  G.  Brown  had  been  chosen,  but  his  partisans 
managed  things  so  badly  that  his  name  was  not  even 
presented.  Fearing  that  a  second  blunder  of  this  kind 
might  be  made  in  the  election  of  1856,  he  wrote  his 
friend,  C.  S.  Tarpley  of  Vicksburg,  on  December  19, 
1855,  distinctly  stating  his  position.  He  desired  above 
all  things  that  his  career  as  an  ardent  "Southern 
rights77  man  should  not  be  repudiated.  He  wished 
his  course  in  the  crisis  of  1850  to  be  endorsed ;  and 
finally  to  have  it  understood  that  he  was  not  privy  to 
the  reported  scheme  of  "  running  "  him  for  the  vice- 
presidency  in  1856,  which  was  designed,  he  thought, 
to  secure  his  defeat  for  the  Senate.  The  Secretary  of 
War  was  uneasy  about  the  outcome  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  his  candidacy  was  kept  well  before  the 
public  mind  throughout  the  year  1856.  His  opponent, 
or  rather,  rival,  was  Jacob  Thompson,  an  equally 
ardent  Southern  rights  man  and  an  able  politician  of 
the  Walker  school  of  1844.  Some  capital  was  made 
of  the  fact  that  Davis,  with  most  of  the  other  leaders, 
was  a  resident  of  southwestern  Mississippi.  When  the 
Democratic  caucus  met  to  nominate  their  candidate, 
the  preference  of  the  party  was  very  much  in  doubt. 
Tarpley,  who  was  present,  was  active  in  Davis' s  behalf. 
It  was  recognized  to  be  a  very  close  contest,  and  one  of 
the  members  of  the  legislature,  as  he  journeyed  on 
horseback  to  the  meeting-place,  inquired  of  every 
voter  he  met,  the  choice  of  the  neighborhood  through 
which  he  passed,1  with  the  result  that  sentiment  was 
seen  to  be  almost  evenly  divided.  This  gentleman  was 
made  chairman  of  the  Democratic  caucus.  The  first 
1  Reuben  Davis,  Recollections  of  a  Mississippian,  pp.  353,  354. 


THE  IEEEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT         153 

ballots  resulted  in  a  tie.  The  vote  of  the  presiding 
officer  was  cast  for  Davis,  the  report  was  made  in  his 
favor,  and  the  legislature,  without  a  struggle,  chose  the 
man  who  had  thus  been  designated,  though  it  was  by 
no  means  such  a  victory  as  he  and  his  friends  could 
have  desired. 

The  transfer  from  the  cabinet  to  the  coveted  seat  in 
the  Senate  had  not  been  easy  for  this  reason  :  Missis 
sippi,  as  late  as  1856,  was  not  unanimously  in  favor  of 
the  radical  program  associated  with  the  name  of  her 
most  distinguished  son.  While  Thompson  undoubt 
edly  represented  similar  lines  of  political  action,  he  was 
supported  by  many  who  opposed  much  of  what  Davis 
laid  down  as  the  ultimatum  of  the  South.  Thompson 
was  said  to  "know  no  Xorth,  no  South7'  j1  he  repre 
sented  at  the  time  the  more  timid,  the  politicians 
especially,  of  his  party. 

The  Washington  Union  and  other  Democratic  jour 
nals  hailed  the  result  of  the  election  with  delight  and 
when,  in  the  early  spring  of  1857,  Davis  returned  to  his 
estate,  he  received  a  great  ovation.  At  Vicksburg,  on 
May  18th,  a  barbecue  was  given  in  his  honor  ;  another 
followed  at  the  state  capital  a  short  while  afterward. 
In  the  autumn  he  made  a  sort  of  tour  of  Mississippi  be 
fore  setting  out  for  Washington,  to  resume  his  old 
place  in  the  Senate.  He  had  spent  but  little  time 
among  his  people  since  the  presidential  campaign  of 
1852,  and  he  seems  now  to  have  tried  to  bring  them  into 
fuller  harmony  with  his  favorite  views. 

His  most  significant  speech  was  made  at  Mississippi 
City  on  October  14, 1857.  There  he  said  that  the  admin 
istration  of  Pierce  had  done  well  to  send  Soule*  to  Mad- 
1  Washington  Union,  January  26,  1856. 


154  JEFFEKSOST  DAVIS 

rid  for  the  express  purpose  of  obtaining  Cuba,  and  that, 
had  the  Black  Warrior  episode  been  managed  properly, 
in  his  belief,  the  United  States  would  have  acquired 
the  island.  "General"  Walker,  he  thought,  was 
doing  American  civilization  a  service  by  filibustering 
in  Nicaragua,  and  should  he  succeed,  Davis  hoped 
the  government  would  act  with  a  firm  and  aggressive 
hand.  "  Squatter  sovereignty"  had  seemed  to  offer 
the  South  much  in  1854,  but  its  promises  had  not  been 
realized,  and  now  he  favored  taking  the  ground  which 
ought  to  have  been  maintained  from  the  beginning, — 
that  the  national  government  must  protect  negro 
slaves  in  the  territories  as  it  did  every  other  species  of 
property.  He  did  not  admire  apologists  ;  he  declared 
openly  and  boldly  that  "African  slavery,  as  it  exists 
in  the  United  States,  is  a  moral,  a  social,  and  a  polit 
ical  blessing."  These  utterances  were  well  received 
and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  a  majority  of  the  slave 
holders  of  Mississippi  endorsed  his  views  in  preference 
to  those  of  the  more  moderate  Thompson. 

The  country  had  been  greatly  agitated  during  the 
preceding  spring  and  summer  by  the  dictum  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  famous  Dred  Scott  case.  Dred 
Scott,  a  slave  whose  master  had  taken  him  into  a  free 
state  and  there  held  him  in  bondage,  had  sought  to 
secure  his  liberation  on  the  ground  that  such  residence 
entitled  him  to  it.  The  suit  had  been  instituted  in 
the  local  courts  of  Missouri,  was  appealed  to  the  na 
tional  tribunals  and  obtained  a  final  hearing  in  De 
cember,  1856.  The  great  points  for  the  whole  country 
were: 

1  Could  a  negro,  even  if  free,  sue  iii^jjjjjourts  as  a 
citizen  f 


THE  IEEEPEESSIB£E  CONFLICT         155 

2.  Was  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  forever 
prohibited  slavery  in  territory  lying  north  of  the  line 
36°  30',  constitutional  ? 

The  court  answered  these  questions  after  some  effect 
ive  pressure  from  the  South  as  follows  : l 

(1)  A  negro  cannot  become  a  citizen,  and  therefore 
has  no  status  in  the  courts. 

(2)  Congress  had  no  authority  to  make  the  Missouri 
Compromise  ;  that  is,  property  in  slaves  was  not  differ 
ent  from  other  property  and  must  be  protected  alike 
in  every  part  of  the  Union. 

This  was  the  contention  of  the  Southern  extremists. 
It  was  exactly  what  Calhoun  and  Davis  had  maintained 
ever  since  1847.  The  court,  revered  by  the  country 
since  Marshall  made  it  the  vehicle  of  nationality,  had 
now  declared  in  favor  of  Yancey  on  the  only  impor 
tant  subject  in  dispute.  The  Democrats  of  the  South 
and  the  Douglas  wing  of  the  northern  Democracy 
were  gleeful ;  the  Eepublicans  must  henceforth  contend 
against  the  bulwarks  of  the  Constitution.  Davis  him 
self  was  very  much  elated.  He  challenged  his  oppo 
nents  to  attack  the  Supreme  Court  and  for  a  while  seems 
to  have  supposed  that  they  were  silenced.  Not  so  ;  the 
party  of  the  future  did  not  hesitate  to  assail  the  court 
and  its  judges,  Eepublican  leaders  seeing  in  Chief- 
Justice  Tauey  only  an  ally  of  the  slave-holders. 

While  Davis' s  great  surveys  in  the  Eocky  Moun 
tains  were  going  forward ;  while  the  pro-  and  anti- 
slavery  parties  were  laying  waste  the  fertile  fields  and 
budding  cities  of  Kansas ;  while  the  Supreme  Court 
was  preparing  its  ambitious  and  dignified  scheme,  the 
merchants  and  bankers  and  speculators  had  plunged 
Rhodes,  Vol.  II,  pp.  253-254. 


156  JEFPEESON  DAVIS 

the  country  into  an  economic  and  financial  panic. 
The  President  was  forced  to  propose  some  sort  of 
remedy  for  the  troubles  which  came  home  to  every  man, 
regardless  of  his  views  on  slavery.  Wall  Street  was 
insistent;  it  could  not,  like  "  Bleeding  Kansas, "  be 
thrust  aside  for  a  while.  Merchants  had  closed  their 
doors  by  the  thousands ;  bankers  refused  to  redeem 
their  pledges  ;  railway  trains  stood  still.  What  would 
angry,  partisan  and  ignorant  congressmen  do  with  this 
even  more  pressing  problem  I 

And  finally,  as  if  to  embarrass  even  Providence,  am 
bitious  and  unscrupulous  Southerners  were  again 
sending  forth  their  filibustering  expeditions  against  the 
governments  of  their  neighbors,  bordering  on  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  or  the  Pacific  Ocean.  " General"  Walker, 
whom  Davis  mentioned  so  favorably  in  his  Mississippi 
City  speech  just  before  he  took  up  his  journey  north 
ward,  was  collecting  forces  along  the  Mississippi  Eiver, 
in  Texas  and  New  Mexico  preparatory  to  the  attempted 
conquest  of  Nicaragua.1  And  the  Spanish  authorities 
in  Cuba  were  on  their  guard  day  and  night  lest  Quit- 
man  take  them  by  surprise  in  another  foray  and  annex 
the  beautiful  isle  to  the  United  States. 

The  new  President,  Buchanan,  was  not  an  able  man  ; 
and  the  House  was  now  hopelessly  divided.  It  de 
volved  on  the  imperious  Senate  to  solve  these  difficult 
problems.  Davis,  Douglas,  and  Seward  were  its  fore 
most  members,  the  sovereigns  of  the  nation — if  there 
was  such  a  thing  as  sovereignty  or  a  nation  in  this 
Western  world  in  December,  1857.  The  President 
sent  to  Congress  a  long  and  sensible  message,  as  soon 
as  it  organized  for  the  transaction  of  business.  While 
lAmer.  Hist.  Rev.,  Vol.  X,  pp.  792-811. 


THE  IKKEPKESSIBLE  CONFLICT          157 

the  new  members  were  getting  acquainted  with  their 
surroundings  and  Buchanan  was  pressing  for  some  re 
form  in  the  banking  laws  of  the  country,  as  a  means 
of  escape  from  the  financial  ills  of  the  time,  news  of 
recent  events  in  Kansas  was  received.  The  election 
of  December  21st  was  being  denounced  by  the  press 
and  in  Abolitionist  platforms.  Eobert  J.  Walker,  the 
recently  appointed  free-state  governor,  though  fast 
becoming  persona  non  grata  to  the  Southern  leaders, 
was  plying  his  well-known  arts  on  the  President  and 
cabinet  in  behalf  of  the  anti-slavery  men,  who  were 
manifestly  in  the  majority  in  the  territory. 

Always  bold  and  sometimes  happy  in  his  ex 
pedients,  Douglas  astonished  the  Senate  and  the 
country  by  coming  out  positively  for  Walker  and  his 
party  in  Kansas.  He  denounced  those  who  would  de 
fraud  his  " squatters"  of  their  right  to  determine  for 
ever  the  status  of  slavery  in  the  new  state.1  The 
principle  for  which  he  had  contended  so  long  and 
against  such  overwhelming  odds  was  now  about  to  be 
violated.  He  thus  took  the  Southern  men,  especially 
Davis,  by  surprise.  The  President,  wavering  between 
the  influence  of  Walker  and  the  North  on  one  side, 
'and  that  of  Southern  extremists  on  the  other,  was  out 
classed.  He  must  either  accept  Douglas  and  appear 
before  the  country  in  the  leading  strings  of  a  new 
group  of  Northern  politicians,  or  else  he  must  sur 
render  outright  to  Howell  Cobb  and  Jacob  Thompson, 
of  the  cabinet,  and  allow  Jeiferson  Davis  to  voice  the 
administration  in  the  Senate.  Buchanan  chose  the 
second  alternative  and  on  February  2,  1858, 2  sent  a 

1  Cong.  Globe,  35th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Dec.  9th. 

2  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol.  V,  p.  471, 


158  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

message  to  Congress,  espousing  the  side  of  the  Kansas 
pro-slavery  convention,  and  urging  the  acceptance  of 
the  so-called  Lecompton  constitution.  Douglas  now 
became  the  object  of  especial  hatred  on  the  part  of 
the  administration.  But  the  senator  from  Illinois  had 
regained  many  of  his  former  Northern  supporters,  as 
well  as  strengthened  himself  for  the  coming  contest  in 
his  own  state,  where  Abraham  Lincoln  was  to  gain 
distinction  in  so  notable  a  way.  Douglas  outwardly 
accepted  the  dictum  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Dred 
Scott  case  and  took  the  strongest  ground  possible  for 
any  Northern  Democrat.  Walker  had  unquestionably 
caused  his  influence  to  be  felt,  and  if  he  could  have 
brought  Buchanan  to  his  own  and  Douglas' s  position,  his 
long  cherished  ambition  might  still  have  been  gratified. 
At  any  rate,  he  could  have  made  Douglas  President. 

Davis  said  but  little  on  the  subject  of  Kansas  until 
after  the  message  of  February  2d.  Then  he  commends 
Mr.  Buchanan  as  a  statesman  and  a  patriot 1  and  pro 
claims  it  as  his  creed  that,  when  the  interests  which  a 
senator  represents  no  longer  find  protection  under  the 
laws  of  the  Union  ;  when  they  are,  indeed,  constantly 
warred  upon,  he  holds  it  to  be  his  duty  to  retire,  as 
would  an  ambassador  from  a  foreign  country  on  the  eve 
of  war.2  This  speech,  while  particularly  directed 
against  Fessenden  of  Maine,  was  intended  for  the  Ee- 
publican  party,  now  grown  as  aggressive  as  the  South 
ern  Democracy.  Mason  of  Virginia,  Benjamin  of 
Louisiana,  and  other  leading  Southern  senators,  joined 
Davis  in  his  hearty  commendation  of  the  President, 
thus  bringing  the  slavery  question  once  again  to  the 

1  Cong.  Globe,  35th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Feb.  8,  1858. 
9  Ibid. 


THE  IEEEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT         159 

first  place  in  Congress  and  in  the  country  at  large,  de 
spite  the  many  and  grave  financial  difficulties  then 
pressing  upon  the  people. 

The  fate  of  the  vast  railroad  schemes,  for  which  \ 
Davis  had  sacrificed  some  of  his  states'  rights  views  ) 
while  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  had  not  yet  been 
determined.  Indeed,  it  was  just  at  this  time  that  he 
and  his  friend  Gwin  of  California,  formerly  of  his  own 
state,  were  evolving  a  plan  for  bringing  the  matter 
before  Congress.  The  senator  from  Mississippi  having 
done  so  much  to  further  the  cause,  it  seems  to  have 
been  decided  that  the  Californiau  should  there  present 
a  resolution  committing  "so  much  of  the  President's 
message  as  related  to  the  subject"  to  a  select  committee 
of  nine.  Gwin  became  its  chairman  ;  Davis,  Hunter, 
and  Iverson  were  the  forceful  Southern  members  and 
Douglas  was  appointed  in  recognition  of  the  North 
west.  A  report  was  duly  made  and  a  bill  regularly 
introduced,  when  Davis,  representing  the  minority  of 
the  committee,  moved  an  amendment,  providing  that 
the  President  should  let  the  contracts.  It  was  ac 
cepted  ;  but  no  debate  was  had  on  the  subject  until 
late  in  the  session.  Several  intense  states'  rights  men, 
under  the  lead  of  Slidell  and  Benjamin,  resolutely 
opposed  the  building  of  any  road,  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  unconstitutional.  Gwin  could  not  get  a  vote 
on  his  favorite  measure.  Davis  himself  was  taken 
seriously  ill  early  in  the  session,  and  during  the  larger 
part  of  the  winter  and  spring,  he  was  not  able  to  leave 
his  home.  At  the  next  session,  the  bill  was  reintro- 
duced  and  it  occupied  much  of  the  time  of  the  Senate. 
When  it  finally  passed,  all  that  remained  of  it  was 
a  resolution,  authorizing  the  Executive  to  receive 


160  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

estimates  on  the  cost  of  roads  by  the  three  possible 
routes  described  in  the  magnificent  surveys  of  the  ex- 
Secretary  of  War ! 

Of  these,  Davis  had  made  up  his  mind  long  since 
that  the  Southern  was  the  cheapest  and  most  practi 
cable,  and  it  certainly  would  have  been  the  most  ad 
vantageous  to  the  lower  South.  Under  the  leadership 
of  Senator  Green  of  Missouri,  a  plan  was  presented  for 
building  the  railway  from  some  point  near  Kansas 
City  by  the  easiest  passages  over  the  Eocky  Mountains 
to  San  Francisco.  Still  another  group  of  politicians 
insisted  on  a  road  from  Omaha  to  Puget  Sound.  The 
advocates  of  the  various  lines  had  local,  not  national, 
interests  in  mind,  and  Davis  was  hardly  an  exception 
to  the  rule.  Indeed,  it  was  repeatedly  contended  that 
the  main  purpose  of  the  surveys,  conducted  under  his 
direction,  had  been  to  prove  that  the  extreme  Southern 
route  was  the  only  practicable  one.  These  charges, 
while  containing  a  semblance  of  truth,  did  him  much 
injustice.  He  was  really  anxious  to  turn  the  attention 
of  the  country  from  the  discussion  of  the  slavery  ques 
tion  to  that  of  a  great  national  undertaking.  His 
tender  conscience,  however,  would  not  permit  him  to 
believe  Congress  could  build  a  railway  through  a  state 
for  any  other  than  military  purposes,  and,  least  of  all, 
to  administer  it  when  it  was  completed.  States  might 
do  all  these  things,  but  not  the  nation.  What,  then, 
was  his  justification? 

Now,  as  in  1853,  when  he  first  broached  the  subject, 
it  was  this :  A  road  connecting  the  East  with  the 
Pacific  coast  was  absolutely  essential  from  a  military 
point  of  view,  as  well  as  for  commercial  purposes. 
But  it  could  be  undertaken  only  while  the  region 


THE  IEEEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT         161 

through  which  it  was  to  go  remained  in  the  territorial 
stage  ;  for  after  it  was  cut  up  and  converted  into  states 
by  the  progressive  enterprise  of  private  parties,  the 
United  States  would  no  longer  have  permanent  rights 
over  the  soil.  The  necessity  for  the  railway  and  the 
possibility  of  constructing  it  by  the  central  govern 
ment  being  clearly  shown,  he  was  not  yet  satisfied  ;  for, 
after  the  work  was  done,  the  government  could  not 
possibly  operate  the  road.  How  could  this  obstacle 
be  overcome  ?  Davis  thought  that  a  private  company 
should  be  incorporated  in  one  of  the  states  j  that  it 
should  be  given  the  right  of  way  through  the  terri 
tories,  with  a  loan  of  $10,000,000  on  easy  terms,  and  the 
privilege  of  selling  alternate  sections  of  the  public  lands 
along  the  line.  With  these  concessions,  it  was  believed 
that  private  parties  would  build  the  road  in  due  time. 

Such  a  railway,  he  argued,  would  be  the  means 
of  uniting  the  hostile  portions  of  the  country;  it 
would  bind  the  sundered  West  to  the  heart  of  the 
"  Confederacy "  ;  give  us  control  of  the  Pacific  and 
render  certain  the  destiny  of  our  "  continent-wide 
republic."  '  That  so  happy  a  result  would  have  fol 
lowed  is  of  course  doubtful  enough  ;  that  Davis  hoped 
for  such  an  outcome  is  creditable  to  him.  It  shows 
that  he  was  not  a  secessionist  per  se. 

Had  he  been  able  to  secure  the  appropriation  for  the 
Southern  Pacific  Eailroad,  his  next  move  looked  toward 
the  incorporation  of  Mexico  into  the  United  States.  He 
also  renewed  his  plans  and  endeavors  for  the  purchase 
of  Cuba,  as  was  foreshadowed  in  the  speech  at  Mis- 
sissippi  City  in  October,  1857.  But  since  the  acquisi- 

1  Cong.  Globe,  35th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  Jan.  19th  and  20th.  See  ajso 
Appendix  for  same  date. 


162  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

tion  of  that  island  was  left  for  Slidell  to  advance  as  best 
he  could  and  because  of  the  precarious  condition  of  his 
own  health,  Davis  played  a  secondary  role  in  the  de 
bates  on  the  matter.  The  second  annual  message  of 
President  Buchanan  renewed  the  recommendations  of 
its  predecessor  on  this  subject  and  urged  Congress  to 
vote  ample  supplies  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
over  Cuba,  whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  offered. 
It  was  even  urged  that  the  i '  Pearl  of  the  Antilles ' ' 
should  become  a  part  of  the  United  States  in  order 
that  the  African  slave-trade  encouraged  there  might 
be  suppressed.1  Practically  all  leading  Southerners 
endorsed  this  proposition,  and  it  was  hoped  in  the 
South  that  at  least  two  new  slave  states  would  thus  be 
brought  into  the  Union  to  balance  the  growing  power 
of  the  North  in  the  Senate.  Douglas  favored  this 
course,  notwithstanding  his  quarrel  with  the  President ; 
and  the  Democrats  generally  were  willing  to  embark  a 
second  time  upon  a  policy  of  expansion,  in  the  hope 
that  they  might  again  win  the  acclaim  of  imperialists, 
everywhere  so  easy  to  arouse.  It  was  unpopular  to 
oppose  the  widening  of  the  boundaries  of  the  country, 
even  though  the  pro-slavery  party  must  certainly  get 
the  "  better  half"  of  the  bargain. 

When  Buchanan  yielded  his  own  convictions  on  the 
Kansas  embroglio  to  the  demands  of  his  Southern  sup 
porters,  he  steeled  himself  to  enforce  his  own  view  in 
regard  to  another  complication,  just  then  coming  to  his 
knowledge.  "  General  "  William  Walker  had  gone  a 
second  time  to  Nicaragua.  Soon  after  he  had  landed 
and  begun  his  operations,  he  was  seized  by  Naval 
Commander  Paulding  and  carried  under  arrest  to  the 

1  Messages  and  Documents  of  the  Presidents,  Vol.  V,  pp.  509-511. 


THE  IEEEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT         163 

United  States.  As  guilty  as  ever  Aaron  Burr  had 
been,  the  President  determined  to  make  the  filibuster 
feel  the  heavy  hand ...  of  the  law.  Davis  and  Toonibs 
thought  Walker  had  been  illegally  imprisoned,  and 
they  desired  his  speedy  release,  the  latter  charging 
that  the  arrest  had  been  made  only  because  the  adven 
turer,  if  left  to  himself,  would  establish  slavery  in 
Central  America.1  His  cause  was  not  vigorously 
pressed  by  his  friends  in  Congress,  because  it  was 
thought  best  to  let  the  President  have  his  way  in  this 
instance,  lest  he  break  from  the  Southern  program 
in  Kansas.  The  offender  was  placed  under  bond  to 
keep  the  peace,  but  it  was  only  a  short  while  before  he 
was  again  directing  attacks  on  Nicaragua  and  Central 
America.  He  was  finally  captured  and,  as  already 
noted,  shot  on  the  scene  of  his  usurpations. 

The  break  of  Douglas  with  the  South  and  with  the 
administration  created  new  political  constellations. 
Eobert  J.  Walker  was  now  both  hated  and  feared  in  the 
slave  states.  With  the  "  Little  Giant "  for  a  coadjutor, 
he  might,  a  second  time,  prove  himself  a  maker  of 
presidents,  or  possibly  reach  that  high  station  himself. 
Davis  denounced  Walker  as  untrue  to  his  section  and 
called  upon  the  party  to  repudiate  him.  This  made 
the  Governor  of  Kansas  only  the  more  popular  in  the 
North  ;  and  Douglas' s  demand  for  a  fair  trial  of  the 
popular  sovereignty  idea  in  the  territories  also  re 
gained  for  him  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Democratic 
party  there.  Though  once  regarded  as  a  "  Northern 
man  with  Southern  principles,"  Douglas  now  became 
a  real  leader  of  the  Democracy  in  his  own  section,  and 

See  Johnston  and  Browne,  Life  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  p. 
328. 


164  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

one  who  might  command  the  larger  portion  of  the  old 
Southern  Whig  vote  in  the  coming  election.  As  for 
Walker,  he  was  a  man  without  a  party  after  his  re 
moval  from  office  as  Governor  of  Kansas  in  December, 
1857.  The  Southern  people  could  not  forget  his  bril 
liant  leadership  of  1844,  nor  forgive  his  change  of 
front,  as  they  thought,  in  the  recent  crisis.  The 
North,  on  its  side,  was  glad  to  have  his  testimony  in 
favor  of  its  contention  in  the  territories,  but  could 
not  excuse  his  long  and  efficient  pro-slavery  service 
under  Polk.  Though  an  exceedingly  able  man,  he 
never  quite  won  the  confidence  of  any  party.  He  re 
mained  in  Washington  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
when  he  was  employed  by  President  Lincoln  to  go  to 
Europe  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  credit  of  the 
Confederacy  by  defaming  the  leading  characters  in  its 
government,  which  he  did  with  eminent  success  in  the 
strategic  year,  1863.  He  died  in  Washington  in  1869, 
unlamented  and  almost  forgotten. 

Douglas,  now  at  the  head  of  a  reunited  Democ 
racy  at  the  North,  was  preparing  to  offer  battle  to  the 
Republicans,  whom  not  a  few  conservative  people 
feared.  If  he  could  regain  some  of  his  former  popular 
ity  in  the  South,  his  chances  of  success  in  1860  were 
many  and  promising.  Davis  and  his  co-workers  be 
gan  anew  their  plans  of  1850  for  consolidating  their 
section,  so  that  no  Northern  man  could  well  hope  to 
carry  a  single  state  there.  They  thus  sought  to  do 
for  the  South  what  the  Republicans,  in  1856,  had  well- 
nigh  accomplished  for  the  North.  In  that  year  all 
branches  of  the  old  Democratic  party,  not  excepting 
the  Yancey  men,  had  agreed  to  let  the  slavery  question 
settle  itself  in  the  territories.  Their  convention, 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         165 

which  met  in  Cincinnati,  had  been  remarkably  har 
monious,  though  Buchanan's  small  electoral  vote 
showed  how  much  ground  had  been  lost  since  1852. 

Yaucey  and  Rhett  had  grown  old  in  urging  a  purely 
sectional  creed  upon  the  South.  Only  once  since  1847, 
had  they  yielded  to  the  policy  of  expediency — in  the 
Cincinnati  convention.  The  hope  of  the  party  had 
then  been  that  by  overwhelming,  or  even  decided, 
success,  the  South  would  again  come  into  the  con 
trol  of  the  government  and  possibly  turn  the  issue 
or  confuse  it  with  other  important  questions  as  in 
1844-1846.  But  with  all  possible  manoeuvres,  the  slav 
ery  conflict,  on  the  plains  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska, 
was  steadily  reaching  a  solution  adverse  to  the  South. 
Douglas's  dangerous  stroke  of  1854,  at  first  so  promis 
ing,  turned  rapidly  into  worse  than  a  Pyrrhus  victory. 
The  growing  popularity  of  the  great  Illinois  senator 
in  the  North  only  too  certainly  pointed  to  the  fact  that 
slavery  could  not  compete  in  the  open  field  with  free 
labor  j  that  Douglas  had  only  appealed  the  case  from 
Congress,  which  had  always  been  reasonably  friendly, 
to  the  majority  of  the  newcomers  in  Kansas,  who 
would  undoubtedly  be  inimical  to  the  cause  of  slavery 
in  the  West.  The  South  was  clearly  beaten  ;  Douglas 
was  at  once  named  as  the  responsible  man. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  leaders  of  the  extreme 
party  of  1850  came  back  to  power.  The  logic  of  events 
had  justified  Yancey  and  his  following.  The  agitation 
was  now  renewed  in  several  forms  : 

(1)  Vigilance  committees  and  committees  of  corre 
spondence  were  voluntarily  formed,  and  leading  slave 
holders,  who  had  hitherto  manifested  indifference  to 
ward  the  many  controversies  of  the  party,  were  made 


166  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

to  understand  that  their  property  was  being  endangered 
by  the  steady  gains  of  the  Eepublicans. 

(2)  The  North  was  felt  to  be  gaining  more  and 
more  economically  through  its  manufactures  and  trade. 
This  advantage  must  be  destroyed.     The  South  must 
export  its  valuable  crops  direct  to  Europe  and  buy  in 
a  foreign  market,  rather  than  remain  longer  under  the 
galling  yoke  of  the  Yankee.     From  1854,  Southern 
commercial  conventions  were  held  annually  in  such 
cities  as    Charleston,    Montgomery,    and    Memphis. 
Very  alarming  pictures  of  Southern  bondage  were 
presented  and  every  assemblage  closed  with  the  most 
solemn  vows  never  again  to  buy  from  the  hated  North  ; 
— yet  local  merchants  continued  to  keep  large  open 
accounts  in  New  York. 

(3)  The  next  and  most  difficult  problem  was  that  of 
consolidating  the  Southern  states,  of  bringing  them  to 
act  together  as  a  unit.     Failure  to  do  this  had  broken 
the  back  of  the  movement  of  1850,  causing  the  isola 
tion   of  South   Carolina  and  the  defeat  of  Jefferson 
Davis  in  1851. 

In  addition  to  the  natural  jealousy  manifested  by 
Southern  politicians  and  to  an  extent,  too,  by  the  South 
generally  toward  everything  Northern,  there  was  the 
everlasting  negro  problem.  Hitherto  Southerners  had 
been  content  to  hear  slavery  denounced  as  an  unavoid 
able  evil,  an  oppressive  burden.  The  best  of  them,  as 
late  as  1840,  agreed  on  these  points.  At  the  same 
time,  since  1820,  there  had  been  a  corporal's  guard 
who  denied  the  existence  of  an  evil.  By  1837  Cal- 
houn  gave  his  powerful  influence  to  the  view  that 
slavery  was  a  good,  a  blessing  both  to  master  and 
bondman.  He  held  that  in  Southern  climates,  it  was 


THE  IEEEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT         167 

an  economic  necessity.  This  idea  grew  apace.  Young 
Virginian  leaders  in  the  ranks  of  both  parties  asserted 
in  1840  that  the  Calhoun  doctrine  was  the  correct  one. 
As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained  at  the  present  day,\ 
the  first  positive  propaganda  in  support  of  this  new  Lx-v. 
contention,  began  at  William  and  Mary  College  under 
the  able  direction  of  Professor  Thomas  E.  Dew.  The 
College  of  South  Carolina  early  embraced  the  same 
theory,  and  later  most  Southern  schools  ranked  them 
selves  behind  the  doctrine.  Before  1850  the  great 
democratic  religious  denominations  of  the  country,  the 
Baptist  and  Methodist,  divided  on  the  moral  issue  in 
volved  in  slavery.  The  Presbyterians  likewise  sep 
arated.  The  sectarian  and  theological  schools  became 
as  thoroughly  imbued  with  pro-slavery  principles  as 
the  secular  institutions.  Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer,  a  foremost 
Presbyterian  divine,  championed  in  the  pulpit  the 
cause  of  the  slave-propagandists,  declaring  that  the  in-  • 
stitution  was  a  blessing  per  se  and  that  he  who  planned 
for  its  overthrow  was  an  anarchist.  President  William 
A.  Smith  of  Eandolph-Macon  College  in  Virginia, 
published,  in  1856,  a  labored  book  on  the  subject,  in 
which  he  cited  the  Bible  as  positively  authorizing  it. 
The  pulpits  of  all  the  churches  were  largely  occupied 
by  men  who  thought  negro  servitude  the  basis  of  the 
natural  and  divine  order  of  things.  As  early  as  1845, 
the  election  of  bishops  in  the  great  Methodist  and 
Episcopal  churches  hinged  on  the  question  of  slavery. 
It  was  a  sort  of  test  which  men  unconsciously  applied 
to  everything. ' 
Socially  the  institution  had  even  a  stronger  hold,  for 

Calhoun    Correspondence,  Report   Amer.    Hist.  Ass'n,    1899, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  1046-1048. 


168  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

every  one  in  the  South  who  exercised  any  influence 
was  a  master  or  mistress  of  slaves.  Young  gen 
tlemen  carried  their  negro  valets  and  black  grooms 
men  to  the  University  of  Virginia,  the  College 
of  South  Carolina,  and  elsewhere.  In  Eichmond, 
Charleston  and  New  Orleans,  the  whole  social  fabric 
rested  on  negro  servitude.  The  handsome  if  not  lux 
urious  country  houses  from  one  end  of  the  South  to 
the  other,  were  filled  with  picked  and  trained  servants 
who  stood  ready  at  all  times  to  do  the  slightest  bidding 
of  their  masters.  It  is  needless  to  give  here  any  de 
scription  of  this  well-known  ancien  regime.  Now  that 
slavery  had  won  a  rating  in  the  moral  code  5  obtained 
recognition  in  all  the  great  branches  of  the  Christian 
church  ;  and  had  been  declared  an  economic  and  social 
necessity,  it  should  occasion  no  surprise  that  leading 
men  defended  the  institution  before  the  whole  civilized 
world  as  of  divine  origin  and  sanction.  It  was  only 
the  leader,  the  thoughtful  and  responsible  representa 
tive  of  the  people  of  the  South,  who  should  have  fore 
seen  the  consequences  of  these  new  and  very  remarka 
ble  teachings. 

But  Davis  said  in  most  of  his  public  speeches  after 
1856  that  he  was  "tired'7  of  apologies  for  "  our  insti 
tution."     We  must  take  a  higher  and  more  defensible 
position.     Beaching  backward  in  his  own  history,  he 
again  finds  the  Bible  arguments  which  he  had  used  in 
I   his  speeches  on  the  Oregon  bill  in  1849-50.     He  now 
admits  that  the  young  South  differs  from  the  great 
:  leaders  of  1776-1830  ;  that  slavery  had  not  been  under - 
j  stood  by  these  older  men ;  and  that  they  had  inad 
vertently  yielded  to  the  arguments  of  their  opponents 
on  this  subject  and  allowed  the  passage  of  the  North- 


THE  IRKEPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         169 

west  Ordinance — the  " beginning  of  our  woes," — and 
later  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which,  unconstitution 
ally,  to  be  sure,  limited  the  freedom  of  one  section  of 
the  Confederacy  while  the  other  was  given  an  advan 
tage.  The  speech  of  October,  1857,  in  which  slavery 
was  defended  as  a  divinely  established  institution,  not 
to  be  apologized  for,  was  then  no  mere  bid  for  popu 
larity.  He  was  now,  from  1858  to  1860,  openly  and 
somewhat  defiantly  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  slavery  ex 
tension,  for  nothing  occupying  so  high  a  place  in  the 
political  and  social  system  of  his  section  could  be  per 
mitted  to  be  restricted  and  limited  to  a  particular  lo 
cality.  There  can  hardly  remain  a  doubt  that  in  1858, 
when  the  issue  forced  its  way  once  more  to  the  first 
place  in  the  Senate,  he  looked  forward  to  gaining  new 
victories  over  the  North  by  means  of  the  Supreme 
Court  decision  and  through  the  control  of  the  presi 
dency  and  possibly  also  of  the  Democratic  party.  It 
was  in  his  mind  a  dangerous  period  for  the  South 
but  it  does  not  seem  to  have  portended  secession. 
The  election  of  1856  was,  he  said,  but  a  truce  between 
the  great  sections— a  time  for  both  sides  to  gather 
strength  for  another  struggle  which  might  give  either 
the  mastery.1 

As  might  have  been  foreseen,  the  pressure  of  the 
Southern  extremists  for  victory  in  Kansas,  and  the 
equally  strenuous  fight  of  the  radical  anti-slavery 
party  of  the  North  for  the  control  of  that  region,  forced 
aside  all  other  questions  before  Congress.  Finance, 
filibustering  expeditions,  the  purchase  of  Cuba,  vast 
railway  schemes, — all  yielded  to  the  one  vital  "  irre 
pressible  conflict."  Seward,  the  long-time  opponent 
1  Speech  in  Jackson,  Miss.,  October  14,  1857. 


170  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

of  Davis  in  all  his  pro-slavery  plans,  had  gained  an 
influence  with  the  people  almost  equal  to  that  of 
Douglas.  Henceforward  a  certain  and  ever-increasing 
tide  of  popular  favor  rallied  behind  the  resourceful 
leader  from  New  York.  The  Mississippian,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  secured  prestige  with  the  President,  so 
that  officially  at  least  he  occupied  the  vantage  ground. 
He  could  initiate  measures  looking  to  the  campaign  of 
1860. 

But,  as  already  noted,  Davis  was  taken  seriously  ill 
early  in  the  winter  ;  he  was  seldom  seen  in  his  place 
during  the  session.  On  rare  occasions  he  appeared  and 
spoke  with  the  very  form  of  disease  sitting  upon  him. 
With  head  bandaged  and  leaning  on  his  cane,  yet  with 
a  zeal  and  earnestness  unmistakable,  he  presented  his 
views  at  critical  stages  of  the  Kansas  debates.  After 
all,  little  progress  was  made  on  either  side  save  the  re 
moval  of  Walker  from  his  place  as  governor,  and  the 
organization  of  the  Democratic  official  party  against 
Douglas  and  his  friends.  The  vital  question  remained 
unanswered  ;  while  business  enterprise  and  the  natural 
buoyancy  of  the  American  spirit,  rather  than  any  law, 
restored  the  embarrassed  finances  of  the  country.1 

At  the  close  of  the  session,  Davis  decided  to  spend 
the  summer  on  the  Maine  coast,  in  the  hope  of  repair 
ing  his  broken  health.  He  left  Washington,  accom 
panied  by  his  sprightly  family  and  most  popular  wife 
in  the  early  days  of  July.  It  was  to  be  his  last  pleasure 
trip  into  the  North,  and  he  seems  to  have  felt  the  near 
approach  of  the  fatal  conflict.  He  journeyed  by  sea 
from  Baltimore  down  the  Chesapeake  ;  past  ominous 

1  Public  letter  of  May  14,  1858,  in  all  the  leading  Southern 
papers. 


THE  IEEEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT         171 

Fort  Monroe  j  out  into  the  ocean  at  Cape  Charles,  hard 
by  the  scenes  to  be  made  historic  by  the  Monitor  and 
the  Merrimac  ;  thence  to  Boston,  the  home  of  William 
Lloyd  Garrison ;  and  on  to  Portland,  where  many 
Southerners  of  prominence  were  accustomed  to  spend 
the  summer.  Montgomery  Blair,  an  intimate  friend  of 
the  Davises,  had  his  cottage  there ;  and  the  Shipleys 
and  Carrolls  of  Maryland  also  belonged  to  this  group 
of  interesting  sojourners.1 

On  the  way  from  Boston  to  Portland,  Davis  made  an 
address  to  his  fellow  passengers.  It  was  July  4th. 
He  warned  them  against  the  dangers  into  which  all 
felt  that  the  Union  was  being  thrust  by  the  agitators 
of  both  sections.  Again,  in  Portland,  he  was  called 
upon  to  speak  on  several  occasions.  Happy  as  were 
his  party  and  personal  relations,  made  more  so  by 
the  rapid  recuperation  of  his  health,  he  insisted  each 
time  on  the  immanence  of  the  coming  storm.  Finally, 
during  the  early  days  of  October,  he  set  out  for  Wash 
ington.  Everywhere  he  went,  he  was  received  with 
the  highest  marks  of  courtesy  and  popular  esteem. 
While  Northern  and  Eastern  men  did  not  agree  with 
the  Mississippi  leader  politically,  they  valued  him 
highly,  and  remembered  with  gratitude,  even  pride, 
his  able  and  fearless  public  service  both  in  war  and  in 
peace.  In  Boston  he  became  the  guest  of  the  city  and 
was  invited  to  address  an  audience  in  Faueuil  Hall, 
that  charmed  spot  of  New  England  patriotism  and 
local  pride,  which  had  been  closed  to  Webster  after 
his  Seventh  of  March  speech.  Davis  was  introduced 
by  his  devoted  friend,  Caleb  Gushing,  while  Eobert  C. 
Wiuthrop  and  Edward  Everett  honored  the  event  by 
1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  pp.  584-586. 


172  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

their  presence  on  the  platform  and  entertained  the  dis 
tinguished  visitor  in  their  homes.1  It  was  a  Demo 
cratic  assemblage,  however,  and  it  was  openly  ac 
knowledged  that  no  adherent  of  this  party  had  been 
elected  in  Massachusetts  "  in  many  a  day."  It  was  a 
remnant  of  the  conservative  wing  of  years  agone, 
made  up  of  men  who  trembled  at  the  thought  of  war 
and  who  hoped  against  hope  that  the  Eepublicans 
would  be  defeated  in  the  coming  presidential  cam 
paign. 

Davis  won  laurels  on  that  October  day.  He  spoke 
with  evident  feeling  and  genuine  love  for  the  Union. 
The  history  of  ancient  Boston  was  rehearsed ;  the 
stanch  resistance  to  the  adoption  of  the  national  Con 
stitution  in  1788  touched  upon  ;  and  the  later  pride  in 
the  Union  emphasized.  But  the  ever-present  slavery 
problem  bore  down  upon  the  minds  of  all ;  the  one 
theme  then  uppermost  in  every  locality  could  not  be 
repressed,  especially  by  Jefferson  Davis.  He  confessed 
himself  a  member  of  the  so-called  slave-expansionist 
group  of  the  lower  South  ;  inveighed  against  agitation 
and  intermeddling  in  the  affairs  of  sovereign  states ; 
arraigned  the  motives  of  Douglas,  without  mentioning 
his  name  ;  and  argued  warmly  in  support  of  the  de 
cision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case. 
In  all  that  was  said  there  was  an  earnest  and  anxious 
tone  as  of  one  who  foresees  an  impending  calamity. 
He  threatened  no  one,  nor  indulged  in  any  braggadocio ; 
but  he  let  it  be  clearly  understood  that  all  his  hopes 
for  the  safety  of  the  Union  depended  on  the  Democratic 
party,  which  was  already  dividing  into  Douglas  and 
Yancey  factions.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Gushing, 
1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  594. 


THE  IKBEPBESSIBLE  CONFLICT         173 

Winthrop,  and  B.  F.  Butler,  influential  men  in  New 
England,  thoroughly  agreed  with  these  views.  It  was 
they  who  held  out  longest,  less  than  two  years  later  at 
Charleston,  for  Democratic  harmony  ;  they  who  voted 
again  and  again  for  the  choice  of  Davis  himself  as  the 
candidate  of  their  party  for  the  presidency.1 

From  Boston  he  journeyed  to  Washington  where  he 
left  his  family,  and  went  once  more,  early  in  Novem 
ber,  to  Mississippi  to  gauge  the  sentiment  of  his  state. 
It  was  to  a  sullen  and  discontented  constituency  that 
he  now  returned ;  and  he  did  not  quiet  the  troubled 
waters.  No  one  could  have  done  so  at  this  time,  least 
of  all  Senator  Davis,  whose  visit  North  was  looked 
upon  with  dislike  and  jealousy  in  all  the  Gulf  states.  * 
The  sojourn  in  Maine  was  not  regarded  as  necessary 
for  the  recovery  of  his  health,  but  as  a  bid  for  New 
England  support  in  the  coming  Democratic  conven 
tion.  "  Davis  is  at  sea,"  was  a  phrase  often  applied 
during  the  years  1858  and  1859.  This  impetuous, 
angry,  defiant  community  would  not  tolerate  anything 
like  lukewarmness  in  their  leaders,  still  less  a  yielding 
to  Northern  demands.  The  Boston  address  had  not 
been  to  their  taste.  It  was  well  that  its  author  came 
back  to  "  render  his  account, "  if  he  desired  to  continue 
his  career  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.2 

1  See  Butler  letter  in  Johnson  Papers,  Library  of  Congress.     "  I 
voted  fifty-seven  times  for  the  nomination  of  Jefferson  Davis,"  said 
this  rather  doubtful  character  in  American  history. 

2  See  speech  of  November  11, 1858,  in  Jackson,  Miss.,  National  In 
telligencer,  November  27,  1858. 


CHAPTEE  XI 

THE  BREAK-UP  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY 

THE  Bepublican  party  sprang  into  being,  not  only 
as  a  protest  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise,  but  for  the  purpose  of  setting  metes  and  bounds 
to  slavery.  It  appealed  at  once  to  the  North  as  offer 
ing  the  only  possible  way  of  wresting  from  the  Democ 
racy  the  control  of  the  Union.  The  strong  sectional 
prejudices  of  the  people  of  these  states,  naturally 
aroused  by  the  fear  of  a  long  lease  of  power  to  their 
opponents,  were  cultivated  as  strenuously  as  were  those 
of  the  South  by  the  extreme  slavery  propagandists. 
The  programs  of  the  party  in  1854,  1856  and  1860, 
were  aimed  at  a  consolidation  of  all  anti -slavery  inter 
ests.  There  was  hardly  a  hope  that  any  Southern  state 
would  ever  join  their  ranks,  and  up  to  the  present  time 
the  South  has  remained  "  solid  "  against  all  their  lead 
ing  policies.  The  North  had  grown  strong  enough  to 
seize  by  mere  force  of  numbers  the  control  of  the  Union 
if  they  could  unite.  It  required  only  a  few  years  to 
bring  about  this  necessary  harmony  of  action  with 
such  a  goal  in  view. 

The  new  party  was  not  scrupulous  in  its  use  of 
weapons.  The  protective  tariff  of  the  Whigs  was 
brought  into  the  platforms  to  win  the  Pennsylvania 
vote  against  a  powerful  local  Democratic  machine. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  was,  as  ought  to 
have  been  expected,  made  to  do  valiant  service  on  be- 


BEEAK-UP  OF  DEMOCEATIC  PAETY    175 

half  of  emancipation.  Like  all  revolutionary  parties, 
it  condemned  and  attacked  conservative  institutions  : 
the  Constitution,  the  Supreme  Court,  the  United  States 
Senate.  By  every  available  means,  the  young  and 
vigorous  organization  forged  its  way  on  to  success. 
~No  one  doubted  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  Ee- 
publican  leaders  would  occupy  the  great  places  in  the 
national  government. 

Davis' s  erstwhile  friends  and  co-workers,  Ehett, 
Yancey,  and  A.  P.  Calhouu,  early  in  1857  prepared 
to  renew  their  campaign  against  the  North.  Their  aim 
was  to  organize  the  South  as  thoroughly  as  the  other 
section  appeared  to  be.  Thus  united,  they  meant  to 
enter  the  Democratic  conventions  whenever  they  might 
assemble  and  demand  the  adoption  of  their  program, 
which  called  for  absolute  guarantees  for  slavery  in  the 
territories.  If  in  this  they  were  successful,  they 
would  support  the  only  remaining  party  with  a 
unionist  outlook  ;  should  this  party  fail  in  a  presiden 
tial  election,  they  would  fall  back  on  their  compact  or 
ganization  and  urge  secession  as  the  last  remedy  at 
hand. 

The  Southern  commercial  conventions  were  used  as 
a  means  of  agitating  afresh  the  slavery  question.  At 
Knoxville  in  1857  it  was  seriously  proposed  to  reopen 
the  foreign  slave-trade,  under  the  ban  of  national  legis 
lation  since  1808.  L.  W.  Spratt  of  South  Carolina  was 
appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  to  investigate  the 
subject  and  report  at  the  next  meeting.  He  did  so  at 
the  Montgomery  convention,  which  met  in  1858,  urg 
ing  Southern  members  of  Congress  to  do  their  utmost 
to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  law.  Yancey  championed 
the  new  proposition  and  rallied  his  followers  to  the 


176  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

cause.  The  motive  for  raising  the  embargo  on  the 
importation  of  native  Africans  was  to  increase  the 
population  of  the  South  and  thereby  secure  a  larger 
representation  in  Congress ;  to  lower  the  price  of 
negroes  so  that  the  small  farmers  and  poor  whites 
might  become  slave-owners,  thus  rendering  Southern 
society  more  homogeneous ;  and  of  course  to  enable 
slave-holders  the  better  to  fasten  their  grip  on  new 
territories. 

The  border  Southern  states,  whose  citizens  sold  an 
nually  as  many  as  ten  thousand  negroes  to  the  lower 
South,  to  say  nothing  of  the  larger  migration  to  the 
"  cotton  country,"  opposed  the  proposition.  Roger  A. 
Pryor,  editor  of  The  8outh,  an  important  newspaper 
published  in  Eichmond,  replied  to  Yancey  in  lively 
fashion,  and  was  able  to  secure  a  postponement  of  the 
decision  until  the  next  meeting.  A  year  later  at  Yicks- 
burg  the  Southern  interests  represented  in  these  as 
semblies  put  themselves  on  record,  by  a  large  vote, 
as  favoring  this  method  of  indefinitely  increasing  the 
negro  population. 

As  a  result  of  the  agitation,  foreign  slavers  and 
smugglers  from  the  Northern  as  well  as  the  Southern 
seaport  towns,  seized  every  opportunity  to  land  cargoes 
of  their  African  freight  on  the  Southern  coast.  In 
Charleston,  Savannah,  Mobile  and  along  the  river 
banks,  thousands  of  natives  were  unloaded  and  dis 
posed  of  to  eager  purchasers  at  low  prices.1  In  no  case 
could  the  local  grand  juries  be  induced  to  bring  in  bills 
of  indictment  against  men  engaged  in  this  miser 
able  business.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  between 
1866  and  1860  as  many  as  fifty  thousand  negroes, 
1  Collins,  Domestic  Slave  Trade,  pp.  19,  20, 


BREAK  UP  OP  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY    177 

direct  from  their  jungles,  were  sold  in  the  United 
States. 

Davis  favored  this  new  propaganda,  though  he  did 
not  become  its  champion.  As  for  Mississippi  he 
thought  it  already  had  enough  slaves  to  satisfy  the  de 
mand  ;  but  he  said  in  1859  that  Louisiana  and  Texas 
might  stand  in  need  of  a  fresh  supply.  When  the 
legislatures  of  Southern  states,  Louisiana,  for  example, 
enacted  laws  providing  for  the  importation  of  "  black 
apprentices/7  designed  to  circumvent  the  national 
laws  of  1819,  on  the  subject  of  the  slave  trade,  he 
found  no  words  of  condemnation,  but  suggested  the 
repeal  of  too  harsh  general  measures.  As  an  earnest 
of  his  good-will,  he  steadily  exerted  his  influence  in 
Congress  to  make  easier  the  course  of  the  African 
slaver  in  the  lower  Atlantic.  He  must  therefore  be 
classed  as  an  advocate  of  this  item  of  Yancey's  ex 
treme  program  j  and  it  was  but  natural,  since  he  openly 
proclaimed  negro  slavery  a  blessing  and  a  divinely 
established  institution. 

In  the  crisis  of  1850,  Davis  had  urged  his  Mississippi 
followers  to  build  manufactories,  to  learn  the  arts  and 
trades ;  in  short,  to  render  themselves  independent  of 
the  outside  world.1  In  1854  the  Richmond  Enquirer  ad 
vocated  larger  state  appropriations  to  the  new  Virginia 
Military  Institute  at  Lexington  on  the  ground  that 
trained  men  would  one  day  be  needed.  South  Carolina 
had  long  liberally  supported  her  famous  cadet  school, 
the  " Citadel77  in  Charleston.  The  Universities  of 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  other  states  added  military 
departments  and  employed  competent  drill  masters. 

1  Public  letter  of  November  18,  1849,  in  leading  Mississippi 
papers. 


178  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Louisiana  established  a  military  academy  and  engaged 
William  T.  Sherman  as  its  superintendent.  A  num 
ber  of  smaller  schools,  such  as  "  Bingham's  "  of  North 
Carolina,  enjoyed  a  good  patronage. 

Meanwhile,  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  the 
patrons  of  Northern  colleges.  From  time  immemorial 
there  had  been  large  Southern  contingents  at  Yale, 
Princeton,  and  Harvard.  After  the  Silliman  episode 
at  Yale  in  1854,  most  Southern  newspapers  published 
editorials  condemning  parents  who  permitted  their  sons 
to  attend  these  "Abolition"  schools.  "If  our  own 
schools  are  not  good  enough,  let  them  be  improved  by 
a  more  hearty  support ;  if  this  is  not  enough,  then 
patronize  the  universities  of  Europe  rather  than  aid  or 
abet  in  any  way  the  bitter  enemies  of  the  Southland." 
Such  was  the  tenor  of  opinion  in  the  more  conserva 
tive  journals.  Not  only  colleges  but  books  and  works 
of  art  of  Northern  origin  were  decried.  Every  oc 
casion  was  used  to  encourage  Southerners  to  renew  their 
connections  and  affiliations  with  England  and  France. 

This  was  not  the  spirit  of  friendliness  and  mutual 
forbearance  demanded  by  the  voluntary  union  of  1787  ; 
but  one  which  ought  to  have  convinced  thoughtful  men 
that  separation  was  inevitable.  For  this  hostility  was 
wide-spread ;  it  permeated  all  grades  of  society  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  while  the  ruling  class — the  large 
slave-owners — was  extremely  bitter.  Papers  like  the 
Eichmond  Dispatch,  whose  avowed  purpose  was  to  give 
the  news  and  eschew  politics,  yielded  to  the  all-per 
vading  feeling  and  before  1856  were  almost  daily  de 
nouncing  some  Northern  man  or  institution. 

The  outcome  of  Walker's  course  in  Kansas l  was  in- 
1  Ante,  Chap.  X. 


BREAK-UP  OF  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY    179 

tensely  disappointing  to  the  South ;  the  apparent 
though  not  real  change  of  position  by  Douglas,  the  con 
sequent  breach  between  him  and  the  Democratic  ad 
ministration,  embittered  Southern  men  against  him 
who  had  promised  them  everything  in  1854.  When  the 
North  saw  the  new  attitude  of  the  senior  senator  from 
Illinois ;  i.  e. ,  when  they  understood  that  local  sov 
ereignty  in  the  territories  invariably  meant  anti-slavery 
supremacy,  he  became  as  popular  as  he  had  been  hated 
in  1854.  Douglas  was  the  only  Northern  Democrat 
who  could  hope  to  "  carry  "  a  Northern  state.  He  was 
not  as  ' l  dead ' '  after  the  Lincoln  debates  as  has  been 
assumed,  since  there  were  strong  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  next  Democratic  convention  would  nominate 
him  without  a  serious  bolt.  In  that  event,  Lincoln 
could  not  have  defeated  him  in  1860. 

But  intrigue  plays  a  role  in  democracies  as  well  as 
in  despotisms.  The  regular  Democratic  organization 
was  in  the  hands  of  John  Slidell,  Senator  Bigler  of 
Pennsylvania,  August  Belmont  of  New  York,  and 
Caleb  Gushing  of  Massachusetts.  Slidell  was  one  of 
the  worst  corruptiouists  at  the  time  active  in  American 
politics ;  he  was  aided  by  a  clique  of  Massachusetts 
minority  leaders  and  the  Pennsylvania  machine.  The 
lower  South  lent  its  support  because  it  was  promised 
the  privilege  of  dictating  the  next  platform,  which  also 
meant  that  Douglas  was  marked  for  defeat,  since  he 
could  never  yield  his  favorite  territorial  policy  without 
losing  everything  to  the  Republicans  in  the  North. 
Buchanan  was  able  to  arrange  matters  so  as  to  control 
the  national  committee,  although  the  great  majority 
of  Northern  and  some  Southern  Democrats  favored  the 
nomination  of  Douglas.  During  the  year  1859,  the 


180  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

main  business  of  the  party  managers  of  whom  Davis 
was  certainly  a  conspicuous  leader,  was  to  secure  his 
defeat. 

The  first  visible  step  in  this  direction  was  to  call  the 
national  Democratic  convention  to  meet  in  Charleston, 
the  centre  of  hatred  for  the  "  Little  Giant."  The 
South  Carolina  metropolis  and  the  beloved  city  of  the 
slave  aristocracy  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  most  im 
portant  towns  in  the  United  States.  It  was  the  intel 
lect  of  the  lower  South,  where  the  best  of  her  ideals 
could  be  seen  in  every-day  life.  William  Gilmore 
Simms,  Henry  Timrod,  and  Paul  Hamilton  Hayne  all 
lived  there  and  contributed  much  to  the  culture  of  that 
remarkable  society.  The  Mercury,  for  which  these 
brilliant  authors  wrote,  issued  daily  from  Charleston. 
Owned  by  the  Ehett  family  ;  edited  by  the  finest  tal 
ent  in  the  South  ;  devoted  to  the  cause  of  slavery -ex 
pansion  ;  representing,  too,  the  Calhoun  tradition,  this 
newspaper  was  an  engine  of  opposition  to  and  ridicule 
of  Douglas.  Its  power  in  the  South  could  hardly  be 
over-estimated.  What  the  Mercury  said  was  echoed  in 
every  local  organ  of  extreme  Southernism  from  Eich- 
rnond  to  New  Orleans  in  the  short  space  of  a  single 
week.  If  Charleston  were  consulted,  no  half-way  meas 
ures  would  be  taken  and  no  half-way  men  nominated 
at  the  coming  convention.  The  senior  Ehett,  the  re 
tired  senator  would  be  made  the  standard-bearer  of 
the  party  ;  and  if  the  country  should  fail  to  elect  him 
on  an  extreme  platform,  she  would  lead  the  South  out 
of  the  Union  and  proclaim  herself  the  capital  of  a 
new  Confederacy  based  on  cotton,  slavery,  and  free- 
trade. 

The  aristocracy  of  South  Carolina,  which  prided  it- 


BEEAK-UP  OF  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY    181 

self  on  birth,  capacity  and  wealth,  centred  in  this  city 
by  the  sea.  There  was  unquestionably  good  blood  in 
the  veins  of  these  scions  of  the  Huguenots.  The  ability 
and  resolute  will  of  the  Calhouu  generation  of  politi 
cians  and  statesmen  cannot  be  disputed ;  and  there 
were  some  millionaires  whose  riches  were  not  their 
only  title  to  distinction.  Such  profusion,  ease,  luxury, 
and  esprit  as  characterized  this  metropolis  of  the  old 
South  was  hardly  to  be  paralleled  in  the  country  in 
1860. 

To  such  a  city,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Mercury  and 
in  the  midst  of  hostile  sentiment,  the  friends  of  Douglas, 
on  whose  success  depended  the  peace  of  the  country, 
were  forced  to  go  by  the  Democratic  executive  com 
mittee  in  April,  1860,  and  Davis  must  be  held  respon 
sible  to  a  large  extent  for  this  action. 

That  point  decided,  all  parties  renewed  their  efforts 
to  secure  the  state  delegations.  In  this  work  the  ad 
ministration  did  a  full  share  ;  the  legislatures  and  con 
ventions  of  the  South  instructed  their  delegates  to  vote 
for  the  Yancey  program  and  nothing  else.  He  had  vis 
ited  the  important  centres  or  secured  his  ends  through 
devoted  adherents,  and  one  by  one  the  legislatures  en 
dorsed  his  plan.  He  was  successful  beyond  expecta 
tion,  and  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  appear  in 
Charleston,  he  thought  his  victory  certain.  Older  and 
shrewder  politicians  like  Slidell  were  never  sure  of  any 
thing. 

Their  plan  of  campaign  was  prepared  in  Washing 
ton.  On  February  2,  1860,  Davis  introduced  into  the 
Senate  his  well-known  resolutions,  designed  to  express 
the  opinion  of  the  Democratic  organization.  These 
were  accepted  by  his  fellow  Southerners,  changed 


182  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

somewhat,  and  re-presented  on  March  1st  as  the  ulti 
matum  of  the  political  party  to  which  he  adhered. 
There  were  seven  of  them.  The  first  three  recited 
familiar  doctrines  of  the  states'  rights  party,  bearing 
on  the  slavery  disputes  ;  the  fourth  declared  that  Con 
gress  had  not  the  constitutional  power  to  limit  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  slave-holders  who  might  settle 
in  the  national  territories  ;  the  fifth  insisted  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  United  States  courts  to  protect  slave 
owners  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  property  in  the  terri 
tories,  and  added  that  in  case  of  a  failure  to  do  this, 
Congress  must  intervene  on  behalf  of  slavery ;  the 
sixth  affirmed  the  doctrine  that  no  territory  ready  for 
statehood  could  be  lawfully  denied  membership  in  the 
Union,  because  of  the  existence  or  non-existence  of 
slavery ;  and  the  seventh  reasserted  the  validity  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850,  declaring  that  state  laws 
contravening  the  purpose  of  this  "great  national  act" 
were  hostile  to  the  Constitution  and  revolutionary  in 
\  character. J  It  is  likely  that  the  last  article  was  not 
Davis' s ;  but  that  it  was  intended  to  represent  the 
views  of  the  upper  South. 

The  caucussing  of  Democratic  senators  on  the  Davis 
resolutions  aroused  much  unfriendly  remark  in  the 
press  of  the  country.  It  was  asserted,  for  example,  by 
the  Washington  States  and  Union,  a  paper  established 
by  Pryor  and  Heiss,  the  latter  of  JSTew  Orleans,  that 
leading  senators  meant  to  bind  the  party  to  a  program 
of  their  own  on  the  eve  of  the  national  convention,  and 
such,  in  fact,  was  the  aim.  The  organization  did  not 
fear  criticism,  but  continued  its  work  up  to  the  day 
of  the  meeting  of  the  delegates. 

1  Cong.  Globe,  36th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Feb.  2d,  March  1st. 


BEEAK  UP  OF  DEMOCRATIC  PAETY  183 

In  the  midst  of  these  untoward  circumstances,  the 
only  political  body  still  bearing  any  semblance  of 
nationality,  met  in  Charleston  on  Monday,  April  23, 
1860.  It  was  a  gathering  of  serious  men  to  do  very 
••TSerlous  work.  There  was  little  drinking  or  loud  and 
unseemly  conduct.  Prayers  were  said  in  the  churches 
of  this  intensely  disunion  city,  as  well  as  throughout 
the  country,  for  a  happy  issue  of  the  threatening  con 
flict.  The  faces  of  these  visiting  politicians  were  sad 
and  earnest  as  they  moved  among  the  resolute  Hugue 
nots  of  the  Palmetto  metropolis ;  men  behaved  as 
though  they  were  buckling  on  the  harness  of 
war.1 

Yancey  reached  the  city  some  days  before  the  open 
ing  of  the  convention,  and  doubtless  conferred  with 
Ehett  and  his  powerful  following.  He  held  meetings 
of  the  sympathizers  with  his  program  and  persuaded 
or  bulldozed  the  neutral  or  luke-warin  as  occasion 
seemed  to  require.2  Slidell,  too,  was  there,  plying  the 
art  of  Talleyrand  with  a  deft  hand.  The  lower  South 
had  come  to  Charleston  to  dictate  the  platform  and 
also  to  choose  the  candidate.  The  ^Northern  and  East 
ern  delegates  inclined  to  yield  to  its  demands,  but  the 
progressive  Western  Democrats  had  now  united  for 
Douglas,  and  they  would  not  think  of  any  other  nomi 
nee  or  of  any  platform  which  he  could  not  accept  and 
defend  to  his  constituents. 

The  senatorial  caucuses  had  determined  what  should 
be  done  in  Charleston.  It  was  to  endorse  the  Davis 
resolutions  and  leave  the  Douglas  men  to  accept  them 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  II,  pp.  444-445. 

2  Trinity  College  Historical  Papers,  1899,  p.  60  ;  So.  Hist.  Sop, 
Papers,  Vol.  XXI,  pp.  154-156. 


184  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

or  bolt.  With  this  scheme  the  Yaucey  men  were 
pleased  and  the  committee  on  platform,  u packed,"  in 
two  cases  at  least,  would  likewise  agree.  However, 
the  chances  of  defeat  were  so  many  that  the  organiza 
tion  feared  the  outcome.  The  Northern  Democracy 
was  too  strong  to  be  treated  with  contempt,  and  be 
sides  they  represented  the  "old  line"  party  forces, 
who  now  for  the  first  time  since  1854  felt  that  their 
candidate  was  genuinely  popular.1  This  growing 
favor  with  the  people  might  work  havoc  with  the 
schemes  of  those  who  "  pulled  the  wires."  Davis  was 
intensely  concerned,  and  as  resolutely  opposed  to  the 
nomination  of  Douglas  on  his  now  popular  platform, 
as  to  the  program  of  Seward,  who  was  expected  to  be 
the  candidate  of  the  Eepublicans.  He  kept  in  the 
closest  touch  with  the  managers  at  Charleston.  Slidell 
was  his  intimate  supporter  and  Caleb  Gushing,  the 
president  of  the  body,  his  devoted  admirer.  The  com 
mittee  on  platform  reported  according  to  his  wishes, 
though  after  a  long  and  bitter  fight ;  and  now  all  the 
official  influence  of  the  party,  combined  with  that  of 
the  administration,  was  used  to  secure  its  adoption. 
Thus  far  had  able  planning  and  shrewd  intrigue 
brought  the  enemies  of  Douglas ;  but  the  convention 
was  contrary-minded.  Its  angry  majority  immediately 
rejected  the  work  of  a  year's  thought  and  pains  and 
the  fight  for  a  fair  and  open  decision  was  begun.  The 
minority  report,  which  declared  for  squatter  sover 
eignty,  was  accepted  by  a  decided  vote.  The  nomi 
nation  of  Douglas  would  have  been  the  next  step, 
but,  according  to  the  usage  of  sixteen  years,  this  re 
quired  two-thirds  of  all  the  delegates  present,  which 
1  Rhodes,  Vol.  II,  p.  445. 


BREAK-UP  OF  DEMOCEATIC  PAETY    185 

rendered  the  assembly  helpless  in  the  face  of  a  great 
crisis. 

After  some  wrangling  and  much  excitement,  Yancey 
obtained  the  floor  and  delivered  one  of  the  epoch-mak 
ing  speeches  of  history  in  defense  of  the  majority  re 
port,  after  which  he  and  his  followers  withdrew  from 
the  hall  in  dramatic  fashion.  They  reassembled  the 
next  day  in  a  separate  building,  and,  upon  the  advice 
of  Slidell  and  other  representatives  of  Democratic 
senators  in  Washington,  with  the  enthusiastic  ap 
proval  of  the  lower  South,  planned  for  the  nomination 
of  a  radical  slavery  ticket. 

The  convention  proper,  composed  now  of  Douglas 
or  Union  men,  was  nevertheless  unable  to  come  to  an 
agreement.  It  adjourned  to  meet  in  Baltimore  two 
months  later.  The  bolters,  persuaded  undoubtedly  by 
Davis  a,nd  the  senatorial  leaders,  likewise  decided  to 
reassemble  at  the  same  time,  not  in  Baltimore,  but 
in  Eichmond.  Both  parties  were  evidently  desirous  of 
awaiting  events,  in  the  hope  of  getting  into  closer 
touch  with  the  political  managers  in  Washington. 
But  Democratic  senators  and  representatives  were  as 
much  at  sea  as  the  members  of  the  sundered  conven 
tion.  What  Davis  and  the  secessionists  desired  was 
patent  to  all ;  what  the  nomination  of  Douglas  meant 
was  equally  plain.  There  was  no  way  of  uniting  these 
warring  factions  except  through  the  surrender  of  one 
party  to  the  other. 

Could  Davis,  the  most  powerful  Southern  senator 
and  the  most  potent  figure  behind  the  scenes  in 
Charleston,  have  secured  the  nomination  for  himself 
or  calmed  the  warring  factions  of  his  party  f 

There  is  no  documentary  proof  to  sustain  an  affirma- 


186  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

tive  answer  to  these  questions.  It  may  be  fairly  argued 
that  he  might  have  been  the  choice  of  the  convention, 
had  the  majority  report  of  the  committee  on  platform 
prevailed.  The  Massachusetts  leaders  favored  him  ; 
the  Pennsylvania  machine  was  his  for  the  asking  j  and 
Mississippi  and  Arkansas  had  "  instructed"  for  him. 
B.  F.  Butler,  years  later,  thought  that  such  a  course 
might  have  solved  the  difficulty.1  The  Democratic 
party  might  not  have  split,  but  its  rank  and  file  in  the 
North  would  have  joined  the  Eepublicans  and  ren 
dered  Lincoln's  victory  overwhelming.  As  a  defeated 
candidate,  Davis  would  have  been  in  practically  the 
same  position  as  he  was  in  the  November  following. 
He  probably  did  not  seriously  desire  the  candidacy 
at  this  time  and  contented  himself  with  a  less  visible 
control  of  the  course  of  events. 

The  meetings  in  Baltimore  and  Eichmond  failed  to 
bring  the  Democrats  together.  Douglas  received  the 
nomination  of  his  party  and  John  C.  Breckiuridge, 
the  Vice- President,  became  the  choice  of  the  South. 
The  border  states,  not  satisfied  with  either  of  the  can 
didates,  put  forward  John  Bell  of  Tennessee  and  Ed 
ward  Everett  of  Massachusetts— both  good  and  easy 
going  Whigs  of  1850.  The  Eepublicans  named  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  as  their  standard-bearer,  and  entered  upon 
the  race  with  all  the  advantages  of  a  short  party  his 
tory,  a  strong  moral  appeal,  and  the  promise  of  the 
spoils  of  victory.  Lincoln's  election  was  treated  as  a 
foregone  conclusion,  unless  the  various  conservative 
forces  could  unite  on  a  single  leader.2 

1  Letter  of  B.  F.  Butler  in  the  Johnson  Papers,  Library  of  Congress. 

2 1  say  "conservative  forces  "  because  it  seems  clear  that  even  the 

Southern  extremists  desired  the  maintenance  of  things  as  they  were. 


BEEAK-UP  OF  DEMOCEATIC  PAETY    187 

The  quarrel  between  Davis  and  Douglas,  begun  on 
the  9th  of  December,  1857,  had  come  to  a  dramatic 
conclusion.  The  intense  interest  attaching  to  the  two 
senators  during  these  weeks  and  months  of  exciting 
discussion,  was  due  to  their  representing  so  truly  the 
aims  and  wishes  of  the  great  sections  of  their  party,  I 
still  in  possession  of  the  administration,  and  with  many  { 
chances  of  success  at  the  next  election  but  for  this 
threatening  dispute.  After  the  break-up  of  the 
Charleston  convention,  Davis  urged  a  vote  on  his 
resolutions  in  the  Senate.  Douglas  opposed  them  in  a 
speech  which  lasted  the  better  part  of  two  days,  and 
which  was  a  severe  arraignment  of  the  Southern  wing 
of  the  Democracy.  He  charged  Davis  with  forcing 
the  Yaucey  program  on  the  party,  which  must  either 
disrupt  it  or  commit  it  to  the  expansion  of  slavery 
under  the  protection  of  the  national  government. 
This  was  a  true  indictment.  Davis  retorted,  with  un 
becoming  hauteur,  that  the  South  demanded  only  what 
the  Constitution  guaranteed  it,  and  cited  the  Supreme 
Court's  decision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case  as  a  final 
verdict  in  his  favor.  He  also  reviewed  the  history  of 
the  party  and  of  the  country  since  the  introduction  of 
the  Wilmot  Proviso  in  1847.  The  issue  had  been 
joined,  he  said,  on  the  question  of  dividing  the  spoils 
of  war  in  1847,  had  been  temporarily  settled  in  1850, 
renewed  in  1854  by  Douglas  himself,  and  now,  he 
continued,  "we  are  confronted  again  with  it  on  the 
plains  of  Kansas  and  in  every  hamlet  throughout  the 
Confederation.  It  has  now  become  the  one  subject  of 
dispute  in  the  Democratic  party  and  it  behooves  us  to 
say  what  shall  be  done."  After  two  days  of  bitter  ar 
raignment  of  Douglas  and  his  followers,  Davis  closed 


188  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

this,  his  most  remarkable  speech  in  the  Senate.     His 
A   manner  throughout  was  condescending  and  contemptu- 
->/  I   ous,  which  not  only  did  not  injure  his  opponent,  but 
v  did  much  harm  to  his  own  cause.     The  influence  of 
this  discussion  penetrated  every  social  gathering  in 
Washington  during  these  last  days  of  the  old  Congress. 
Ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  different  sections  were 
under  constant  restraint,  when  they  happened  to  meet 
in  polite  society,  lest  they  should  refer  to  the  one  sub 
ject  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all.     The  representa 
tives  of  the  people  of  a  common  country  mingled  with 
one  another  as  if  under  the  rules  of  an  armistice. 


CHAPTEE  XII 

DAVIS  AND  SECESSION 

THE  issues  of  the  campaign  of  1860  were  clearly 
drawn.  Every  intelligent  man  knew  what  Breckin- 
ridge  and  Lane  desired ;  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  de 
manded  the  restriction  of  slavery  and  in  the  end 
gradual  emancipation ;  and  all  the  other  nominees 
plainly  stood  for  compromise.  In  view  of  the  almost 
certain  success  of  the  Eepublicans,  Davis  visited 
Douglas  in  the  early  summer  of  1860,  at  the  instance 
of  Bell  and  Breckinridge,  to  suggest  a  withdrawal  of 
all  candidates  and  the  nomination  of  a  united  conserv 
ative  ticket  with  the  sole  purpose  of  defeating  Lincoln. 1 
Doubtless  Buchanan,  forgetting  for  the  time  the  bitter 
campaign  so  long  waged  against  Douglas,  supported  this 
scheme  of  Davis  and  Breckiuridge.  It  was,  in  fact,  a 
confession  that  the  party  organization  had  erred  in  its 
fight  against  the  "Little  Giant. "  He  received  the 
overture  kindly,  but  refused  to  accept  the  suggestion 
to  withdraw  from  the  canvass,  on  the  ground  that  his 
followers  would  then  certainly  vote  for  Lincoln  and 
Hamlin.  This  was  a  proper  estimate  of  the  Northern 
Democracy.  Douglas  was  the  only  man  in  the  coun 
try  who  could  have  defeated  the  Eepublicans. 

Davis  must  have  seen  this ;  but  the  Southern 
Democracy  could  not.  No  amount  of  persuasion 
could  have  induced  the  lower  South  to  vote  at  this  late 

1  Rise  and  Fall,  Vol.  I,  p.  62. 


190  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

A  day  for  Douglas.  i  i  Squatter  sovereignty  "  had  become 
as  distasteful  to  them  as  the  outspoken  program,  of  the 

j  Abolitionists.     And  their  leader,  Davis,  entertained  an 

!  ineradicable  dislike  for  Douglas,  which  blinded  him  to 
all  the  man' s  good  traits.  '  *  If  our  little  grog-drinking, 
electioneering  demagogue  can  destroy  our  hopes,  it 
must  be  that  we  have  been  doomed  to  destruction,"  he 
Svrote  to  Pierce  in  June.1  Fully  appreciating  the 
gravity  of  the  crisis  which  was  involved,  Davis  re 
mained  in  Washington  during  the  summer  of  1860, 
writing  an  occasional  letter  to  his  constituents  or  other 
wise  aiding  his  wing  of  the  Democratic  party ; 2  he 
participated  in  a  Breckinridge  rally  in  the  capital  and 
heartily  endorsed  the  "true  National  ticket.'7  The 
President  also  lent  a  hand  in  early  July  by  making  a 
speech  from  the  portico  of  the  White  House  in  which 
he  announced  that  he  would  support  Breckiuridge.3 
But  Davis  was  not  satisfied  or  hopeful ;  he  seems  to 
have  had  a  premonition  of  the  fate  that  was  in  store 
for  himself  and  his  beloved  South. 

In  the  early  autumn  he  returned  to  Mississippi,  but 
he  appears  to  have  taken  no  active  part  in  the  canvass. 
A  few  days  before  the  election  he  received  a  letter  from 
Eobert  Barn  well  Ehett,  Jr.,  editor  of  the  Mercury, 

|  asking  his  opinion  as  to  the  proper  course  for  South 
Carolina  to  pursue  in  the  event  of  Lincoln's  success. 
His  reply,  dated  November  10th,  is  not  that  of  a  revo 
lutionist  filled  with  the  fires  of  innovation.  There  was 
little  of  the  spirit  of  1850 ;  none  of  the  zeal  which 

1  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  Vol.  X,  p.  365. 

2 Letter  to  W.  M.  Sloan,  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  July  8th.     Published 
in  Richmond  Enquirer,  July  30th,  1860. 
3  Curtis,  Life  of  Buchanan,  Vol.  II,  p.  291. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  191 

would  urge  a  single  state  into  secession.     He  doubted 
whether  South  Carolina  ought  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union  without  assurance  from  the  tier  of  states  reach 
ing  from  Charleston  to  New  Orleans  j  he  feared  that 
Mississippi  could  not  wisely  follow  her,  and  he  coun 
seled  delay  if  even  one  Southern  state  (Georgia)  would 
not  join  the  movement.     The  only  encouragement  he 
gave  the  ardent  revolutionist  was  in  the  fact  that,  in  j 
case  South  Carolina  should  act  alone  and  an  attempt    '/ 
be  made  by  the  United  States  to  "coerce"  her  back' 
into  the  Union,  Mississippi  and  the  other  cotton  states 
would  support  her. l 

This  was  not  the  language  the  South  loved  to  hear  in 
1860  ;  in  1850  it  might  have  been  welcome.     The  belief 
was  that  Davis  had  become  a  politician  ;  that  the  love 
of  power,  such  as  he  possessed  under  the  Union,  had 
seduced  him  from  the  bold  but  righteous  course  of 
earlier  years.     Having  cast  his  vote,  like  a  good  cit 
izen,  and  lingered  a  few  days  at  his  beautiful  home,  he   . 
returned  for  the  last  time  to  his  post  of  duty  in  the 
United  States  Senate.     He  dreaded  the  issue  and  its 
almost  certain  outcome,  and  he  hardly  had  the  faith  to   i 
undertake  to  stem  the  tide  of  certain  revolution,  even    j  t^ 
had  he  been  the  man  to  lead  in  such  a  work. 

Soon  after  reaching  the  capital,  he  saw  the  President 
and  was  questioned  by  him  as  to  some  points  in  the 
coming  message,  relative  to  the  crisis.  He  took  the 
ground  which  he  had  always  taken  when  his  ideas  of 
national  expansion  failed  of  realization, — that  of  strict 
states'  rights.  This  was  to  be  the  ostensible  basis  of 
secession.  It  was  natural  for  him,  and  his  people  had 
been  so  taught  since  the  days  of  Governor  Troup  of 
1  Alfmnd,  pp.  222-224. 


192  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Georgia  and  Judge  Eoane  of  Virginia,  to  believe  that 
the  states  might  secede  whenever  their  grievances  jus 
tified  it.  Buchanan,  though  a  Democrat  and  an  ad 
herent  of  Breckinridge,  adopted  the  view  that  Webster 
had  taken  in  the  debate  with  Hayiie  in  1833.  With 
the  presidency  leaning  thus  toward  the  Eepublicau 
side  and  the  great  majority  of  the  North  supporting 
that  policy,  how  could  there  be  hope  of  satisfactory 
'  compromise  at  this  time  ?  Davis  was  sorely  disap 
pointed  when  Buchanan  took  issue  with  him  on  this 
matter.  August  Belmont,  chairman  of  the  Democratic 
National  Committee  ;  Gushing  of  Massachusetts  ;  Big- 
ler  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  various  Southern  leaders, 
with  whom  the  President  had  been  acting  in  the  utmost 
harmony  from  the  beginning,  all  admitted  the  right  of 
a  state  to  secede.  How  had  Buchanan  come  to  this 
new  position  I  The  nature  of  his  official  station  and 
the  atmosphere  of  the  North  had  forced  him  to  it. 
But  he  did  not,  as  the  majority  of  the  North  did  not, 
say  that  the  power  to  prevent  secession  inhered  in  the 
national  government.  His  position  was  a  difficult  one  : 
there  was  no  right  of  secession ;  there  was  also  no 
authority  to  prevent  secession.  Such  reasoning  as 
this,  while  consistent  witlj  the  clauses  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  was  not  apt  to  stay  the  hasty  action  of  irate  South 
Carolina  ;  nor  could  it  reassure  the  perplexed  North. 
Davis  did  his  utmost  to  bring  the  President  to  his  way 
of  thinking ;  the  cabinet  pulled  the  other  way.  The 
result  was  a  message  that  satisfied  no  one. 

Congress  assembled  on  December  3d.  South  Car 
olina  had  not  seceded,  but  her  senators  and  represen 
tatives  had  resigned,  the  legislature  had  ordered  an 
election  for  delegates  to  a  constitutional  convention, 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  193 

and  no  one  doubted  that  the  breach  was  near.  Con 
gress  favored  another  compromise  ;  but  the  Bepub- 
licans  who  had  won  in  the  recent  election,  in  a  minority, 
however,  in  both  houses  so  long  as  the  South  remained 
in  the  Union,  thought  the  time  had  come  to  say  that 
slavery  must  henceforth  be  content  within  certain  fixed 
limits.  The  representatives  of  the  lower  South  in 
Congress  also  thought  the  occasion  for  a  settlement  was 
at  hand ;  they  would  not  be  satisfied  with  less  than 
the  extension  of  the  line  36°  30'  to  the  Pacific,  which 
had  been  the  demand  of  Davis  since  1850. 

What  could  such  a  Congress,  with  such  a  President, 
do  under  the  circumstances  ?  Many  propositions  were 
made  and  some  inflammatory  speeches  delivered  before 
the  telegraph  brought  the  news  that  South  Carolina 
had  unanimously  declared  her  independence.  Feeling 
that  none  of  these  oifers  could  avail  anything  and  that 
the  administration  could  not  be  depended  on  to  yield 
to  South  Carolina's  demands,  a  group  of  Southern  rep 
resentatives  and  senators  met  on  December  14th,  in 
the  rooms  of  Eeuben  Davis  of  Mississippi,  and  after 
discussing  the  all- absorbing  subject,  issued  to  their  con 
stituents  an  address  in  which  they  said  :  "  The  argu 
ment  is  exhausted.  ...  In  our  judgment,  the 
^Republicans  are  resolute  in  the  purpose  to  grant  noth 
ing  that  will  or  ought  to  satisfy  the  South.  We  are 
satisfied  the  honor,  safety,  and  independence  of  the 
Southern  people  require  the  organization  of  a  Southern 
Confederacy — a  result  to  be  obtained  only  by  separate 
state  secession."  l  Seven  senators,  that  is,  a  majority, 
from  the  lower  Southern  states,  exclusive  of  South 
Carolina,  signed  this  document,  which  came  from  the 
Rhodes,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  177-178. 


194  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

press  on  December  15th.  Davis  took  part  in  the  con 
ference  and  his  name,  with  that  of  his  colleague,  A.  G. 
Brown,  appears  among  the  signers  of  the  manifesto, 
which  had  a  wide  circulation  North  and  South  and 
decidedly  influenced  the  course  of  events. 

The  House  was  already  forming  its  great  committee 
of  compromise ;  the  Senate,  casting  all  its  plans  to 
gether,  turned  them  over  to  thirteen  members  who 
were  for  the  time  to  supersede  the  House  committee 
of  thirty-three.  These  men  represented  all  phases  of 
opinion  and  the  best  ability  in  public  life.  If  any 
peaceable  solution  of  the  grave  problems  then  pressing 
upon  every  mind  could  be  found,  they  would  find  it. 
The  country  had  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  Con 
gress  ;  and  all  moderate  men  and  newspapers  voiced 
the  sentiment  that  some  satisfactory  remedy  must  be 
discovered.  Davis  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Senate 
committee.  He  declined  to  serve  on  the  ground  that 
his  participating  in  the  meeting  of  December  14th, 
and  his  view  that  there  was  no  remedy  which  the  in 
coming  administration  would  accept,  made  it  improper 
for  him  to  do  so.  Over-persuaded  by  his  colleagues 
and  by  the  chief  advocates  of  compromise,  he  yielded 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  sessions.  Five  of  the 
thirteen  members  were  Eepublicans ;  Davis,  Hunter, 
and  Toombs  represented  the  threatening  South  ;  while 
the  remainder  were  men  from  the  border  states  who 
favored  compromise.  At  the  first  session,  Davis  pro 
posed  that  no  report  should  be  made  to  the  Senate  by 
the  committee  in  which  a  majority  of  the  Eepublicans 
did  not  concur.  Seward,  Wade  of  Ohio,  Collamer  of 
Vermont,  Grimes  of  Minnesota,  and  Doolittle  of  Wis 
consin  were  thus  left  to  decide  for  their  party  and  for 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  195 

the  country.  This  course  was  soon  agreed  upon  and 
the  important  meetings  of  the  committee  took  place 
from  the  twenty-first  to  the  twenty-fourth  of  De 
cember.  Crittenden,  the  most  influential  of  the  com 
promisers,  the  successor  to  Henry  Clay,  was  chairman. 
His  elaborate  scheme,  as  now  submitted,  embraced  the 
whole  range  of  subjects  in  dispute  ;  but  his  first  proposi 
tion,  that  of  extending  the  line  of  36°  30'  to  the  Pacific 
as  a  definite  and  final  boundary  between  the  slave  and 
the  free  states,  became  at  once  the  test  question. 

Davis,  Hunter,  and  Toombs  were  ready  to  accept  this  ^ 
proposal.  The  representatives  of  the  border  states,  in 
cluding  Douglas,  would  have  been  delighted  at  such  an 
adjustment.  It  remained  for  the  Eepublicans  to  decide. 
And  it  was  understood  that  whatever  the  committee 
agreed  to  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  country  at  large. 
Indeed,  all  now  looked  to  these  tried  and  experienced 
statesmen  for  a  settlement  of  the  great  national  dis 
pute.  l 

While  the  committee  was  in  session,  the  news  of 
South  Carolina's  withdrawal  from  the  Union  reached 
Washington.  The  gravity  of  the  event  was  felt  on  the 
next  day  when  it  was  seen  that  not  only  the  cotton 
belt  but  North  Carolina  and  other  border  states  showed 
signs  of  approving  the  radical  course.  It  was  not  a 
second  nullification  storm  from  the  South  that  would 
soon  blow  over.  Leading  Eepublicans  now  began  to 
weaken  in  their  demands,  and  thousands  regretted  the 
votes  they  had  given  for  Lincoln  and  Hainlin.  The 
New  York  Tribune  and  Thurlow  Weed's  Albany 
Journal,  added  their  voices  to  the  demands  of  the 
Herald,  the  World,  and  the  Times  for  a  peaceable  ad- 
1  Khodes,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  15-1152. 


196  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

justment  of  the  differences.  Steward  had  been  writing 
letters  to  his  wife  for  nearly  a  month,  which  show  that 
he  was  ready  to  abandon  the  "  irrepressible  conflict,'7 
and  this  change  of  heart  on  his  part  was  vaguely  un 
derstood  among  his  followers.  If  the  New  York  sena 
tor  gave  his  consent  to  Crittenden's  plan,  Grimes  and 
Doolittle  would  have  easily  added  their  votes  and  only 
Collamer  and  Wade  would  have  been  left  to  protest 
against  the  report. 

However,  the  committee  agreed  upon  no  plan  of 
compromise  and  Crittenden  was  left  to  present  his 
scheme  to  the  Senate  himself  when  too  late  to  get  a  fair 
hearing.  What  was  the  reason  for  this  unexpected 
disappointment  of  all  the  friends  of  peace  ?  On  the 
20th  of  December,  the  day  the  committee  of  thirteen 
was  named,  Thurlow  Weed  visited  Lincoln  at  his  home 
in  Springfield  to  talk  over  the  appointments  and,  per 
haps,  the  policy  of  the  new  administration.  They 
read  together  the  dispatches  from  Charleston,  and 
Lincoln  prevailed  on  the  great  politician  and  u  boss" 
to  give  up  his  plans  of  compromise.  Weed  carried  a 
message  to  Seward  which  induced  him  to  change  his 
view  of  the  situation  and  to  vote  against  a  settle 
ment.  Lincoln  said,  "  No  compromise  on  the  ques 
tion  of  slavery  extension  ;  on  that  point  hold  firm 
as  steel."  l  The  popularity  of  the  great  War  Presi 
dent  has  made  students  of  the  subject  to  overlook  his 
responsibility  for  this  momentous  decision,  while  Wade 
and  other  less  lovable  Republicans  have  been  regarded 
as  the  causes  of  the  failure  of  Crittenden's  propositions. 

1  Rhodes  quotes  letters  from  Lincoln  to  John  A.  Gilmer  of  North 
Carolina  to  this  effect;  he  also  wrote  as  much  to  Alexander 
Stephens  and  even  more  to  Horace  Greeley. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  197 

The  truth  is,  the  Eepublican  President-elect  was  al 
most  alone  in  his  firm  stand  on  this  point.  His  ground 
was,  first  that  a  compromise  such  as  this  would  not 
satisfy  the  South  and  that  in  a  few  years  the  demand 
for  the  annexation  of  Cuba  or  another  strip  of  Mexico 
would  be  made  an  ultimatum.  Second,  he  thought  to 
yield  this  contention  would  have  been  in  effect  to  give 
up  the  results  of  the  election.  Contrary,  then,  to  the 
judgment  of  the  leading  politicians  and  the  omniscient 
editors,  this  novice  from  Illinois  refused  to  sacrifice 
any  of  the  principles  on  which  the  contest  had  hinged. 
Lincoln  deliberately  chose  the  horn  of  the  dilemma, 
which  meant  war  ;  but  he  did  not  then  expect  this  re 
sult  to  ensue.  He  thought  the  South  would  not  take 
the  last  step  ;  indeed,  few  men  of  the  North  estimated 
at  its  true  worth  the  revolutionary  will  and  firm  re 
solve  of  the  Southern  people. 

When  Davis  learned  that  a  majority  of  the  Kepubli- 
cans  on  the  committee  of  thirteen  opposed  com 
promise,  he  filed  his  vote,  in  accordance  with  his  sug 
gestion  on  the  first  day,  against  the  opening  clause 
of  Crittenden's  program  ;  Toombs  voted  with  him. 
This  defeated  the  proposals  by  a  majority  of  one. 
That  Davis  and  Toonibs  were  responsible  for  the  war, 
as  has  been  charged,  is  utterly  untrue  except  in  so  far 
as  their  general  influence  during  the  ten  years  past 
tended  to  that  result. 

In  the  early  part  of  January,  various  other  plans 
were  introduced  into  the  Senate  or  the  House,  looking 
toward  compromise.  Crittenden  procured  a  vote  on 
his  proposition  in  the  Senate  with  difficulty.  By  this 
time  the  leading  Eepublicans  were  informed  of  Lin 
coln's  position  on  the  question.  The  real  opportunity 


198  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

had  passed,  the  role  of  Henry  Clay  was  outworn ; 
yet,  Corwin,  of  Ohio,  introduced  a  similar  scheme  in  the 
House,  and  the  South  now  blocked  the  way  to  success. 
The  only  plan  which  really  could  have  met  the  case 
passed  the  New  York  legislature,  was  advocated  by  the 
Tribune,  and  came  before  Congress  early  in  February. 
It  proposed  to  emancipate  the  slaves  at  national  ex 
pense  and  colonize  them  in  Africa.  This  was  to  be 
done  gradually  and  in  cooperation  with  the  state  gov 
ernments  ;  bu":  the  country  was  not  ready  for  this 
step. 1 

(Davis  realized  that  when  the  committee  of  thirteen 
failed  to  agree,  there  was  no  chance  for  a  settlement 
short  of  secession.  He  paid  no  attention  to  any  of  the 
schemes  presented  either  in  the  Senate  or  in  the  House. 
Emancipation  at  national  expense  appeared  to  him 
the  merest  chimera.  He  would  have  pronounced  it 
unconstitutional  as  well  as  insulting.  Nothing  shows 
better  how  far  apart  the  North  and  the  South  were 
than  the  discussion  of  this,  the  only  adequate  proposi 
tion  of  the  time.  The  Tribune  debated  the  matter  as 
though  it  were  possible  for  the  South  to  consider  it, 
and  the  New  York  legislature  seems  to  have  thought 
such  a  solution  would  be  acceptable  to  the  Southern 
members  of  Congress.  These  believed,  however,  that 
nothing  could  be  done  which  was  not  written  in  so 
many  words  in  the  Constitution ;  they  also  thought 
slavery  to  be  a  blessing  and  therefore  not  a  subject  of 
discussion.  Their  aim  was  to  extend  its  area  rather 
than  to  limit  it.  They  desired  to  import  fresh  sup 
plies  of  negroes  from  Africa  rather  than  send  those  on 

1  Cong.  Globe,  36th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  Feb.  11,  1861  ;  New  York 
Tribune,  Jan.  24,  1861 ;  Rhodes,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  270. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  199 

hand  back  to  their  original  jungles.  Could  men  of 
such,  widely  differing  ideals  expect  to  live  together  in 
peace  ? 

Meanwhile,  the  situation  in  South  Carolina  had 
grown  infinitely  more  acute.  On  December  6th,  by 
an  almost  unanimous  vote,  the  people  of  the  state 
returned  the  friends  of  immediate  secession  to  the  con 
vention,  called  to  assemble  on  December  17th.  That 
body,  composed  of  the  well-to-do  and  the  wealthy 
property-holders  of  the  community,  convened  first  in 
Columbia,  but  adjourned  to  Charleston  on  account  of 
an  epidemic  of  smallpox  in  the  capital.  Three  days 
later  the  fatal  ordinance  was  passed  without  a  dissent 
ing  voice.  A  declaration  of  independence  followed ; 
and  an  address  to  the  other  Southern  states  was  issued. 
The  Gulf  states  were  already  moving  toward  the  same 
goal. 

Anticipating  this  action,  the  South  Carolina  mem 
bers  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  in  Washington, 
on  December  8th,  called  to  see  the  President,  in  order 
to  have  an  understanding  about  the  status  of  Forts 
Moultrie,  Sumter,  and  Castle  Pinckney.  Eumors  had 
gone  abroad  that  a  cabinet  crisis  was  at  hand  on  the 
proposition  to  reenforce  Major  Anderson,  whose  men 
were  few  and  whose  supplies  were  running  low.  They 
left  with  Mr.  Buchanan's  written  assurances  that  Major 
Anderson  would  not  be  attacked  by  South  Carolina, 
provided  the  military  status  remained  unchanged. 
And  they  went  away  satisfied  that  no  aid  or  relief 
would  be  sent  to  the  garrisons  in  Charleston  harbor. 
A  few  days  later  Buell,  an  assistant  in  the  War  De 
partment,  went  there  to  give  Anderson  verbal  advice 
as  to  how  to  conduct  himself  in  his  dangerous  situation. 


200  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

The  substance  of  the  "  instruction'7  was,  to  remain  on 
the  defensive  j  but  not  to  permit  himself  to  be  sur 
prised. 

On  December  26th,  commissioners  from  the  govern 
ment  of  South  Carolina  appeared  in  Washington  with 
credentials  and  formal  instructions,  authorizing  them 
to  treat  with  the  government  of  the  United  States  con 
cerning  the  surrender  of  the  forts  then  held  by  the 
latter,  and  in  general  to  balance  accounts  between  the 
two  governments  since  the  beginning  of  their  partner 
ship  in  1788.  Before  the  commissioners  had  had  time 
to  see  the  President,  word  came  that  Anderson  had 
dismantled  Fort  Moultrie  over  night  and  concentrated 
his  force  in  Surnter,  a  stronger  place  and  out  of  reach 
of  some  shore  batteries  which  he  had  seen  put  into 
position.  Trescott,  of  the  War  Department,  had  been 
first  to  receive  the  information.  He  hurried  to  the 
commissioners,  then  to  the  Senate,  where  he  saw  Davis, 
and  also  Hunter  of  Virginia,  both  of  wrhom  accom 
panied  him  to  the  White  House.  There  Davis,  as 
spokesman  for  the  party,  broke  the  news  to  the  Presi 
dent,  saying  :  u  I  have  a  great  calamity  to  announce 
to  you."  They  insisted  that  he  order  Major  Anderson 
back  to  Fort  Moultrie.  After  some  hesitation,  Bu 
chanan  decided  to  make  a  cabinet  matter  of  it.  The 
decision  of  the  administration  a  day  or  two  later  was 
that  Anderson  had  not  disobeyed  orders  and  that  he 
must  be  sustained. 

On  the  following  day  the  commissioners  from  South 
Carolina  had  an  interview  with  the  President,  remind 
ing  him  of  his  quasi-promise  of  December  8th  to  the 
South  Carolina  Congressmen,  and  demanding  that 
Major  Anderson  be  ordered  back  to  Moultrie.  The 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  201 

nature  of  the  promise  was  not  denied  or  disputed  ; 
only  time  to  consider,  to  "say  his  prayers/7  was  re 
quested.  But  the  die  had  been  cast.  Buchanan  had 
decided  to  act  with  the  Union  section  of  his  cabinet, 
and  by  this  date  all  the  Southern  members,  except 
one,  had  resigned,  on  one  plea  or  another.  Joseph 
Holt  and  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  two  strong-headed  men 
of  decided  nationalist  convictions,  had  gained  the 
ascendancy  with  the  President.  The  influence  of 
Davis,  which  had  all  along  been  so  great,  now  waned  ; 
for  once  in  the  last  eight  years  his  urgent  advice  had 
been  positively  rejected. 

A  few  days  later  the  cabinet  decided  to  send  ree'n- 
forcements  to  Charleston  and  a  fast  side-wheel  pas 
senger  steamer,  Star  of  the  West,  was  fitted  out  in  New 
York  and  ordered  to  proceed  secretly  to  the  relief  of 
Major  Anderson.  Men,  arms,  and  provisions  were  put 
aboard  and  it  was  expected  that  the  vessel  would  reach 
Fort  Sumter  in  the  night  and  steal  in  unobserved. 
Jacob  Thompson,  the  last  Southern  member  of  Bu 
chanan's  ill-starred  cabinet,  permitted  news  of  this 
move  to  reach  Charleston  in  time  for  the  state  govern 
ment  to  be  on  its  guard.  The  Star  of  the  West  failed 
of  its  mission  and  was  compelled  to  return  to  New  York, 
the  laughing-stock  of  half  the  country.  On  receiv 
ing  news  of  this  adventure,  Davis  again  went,  on^JanU-%. 
aryjatk,  to  the  White  House.  He  met  a  cooler  wel 
come  than  ever  before.  His  persuasive  utterances  on 
behalf  of  South  Carolina  had  no  effect.  He  returned 
to  the  Senate  to  hear  read  the  special  message  of  the 
President  on  the  state  of  the  Union.  He  no  longer^ 
entertained  a  hope  that  peaceable  secession  was  at-  j 
tainable.  ' 


202  JEFFEESOK  DAVIS 

The  commissioners  of  South  Carolina  had  been  using 
their  utmost  endeavors  to  secure  formal  recognition. 
Personally  they  were  well  known  to  the  President ; 
they  were  among  the  best  of  South  Carolinians  at  a 
time  when  culture  in  that  state  was  at  its  zenith. 
Bobert  W.  Barnwell,  a  member  of  an  old  colonial 
family,  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  close  student  of 
religious  and  literary  problems,  college  president  and 
United  States  senator,  headed  the  commission.  James 
H.  Adams,  a  scion  of  Massachusetts  stock,  son  of  a 
college  president,  educated  at  Yale,  and  trained  in 
public  affairs,  was  the  second  member  of  the  delega 
tion.  James  L.  Orr,  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  former  speaker  of  the  national  House  of 
Eepresentatives,  a  leader  of  conservative  opinion  in  his 
state,  was  the  last.  Secession  was  not  an  affair  of  mere 
malcontents  when  such  men  as  these  appeared  as  its 
chosen  representatives.  If  they  disputed  with  the 
President  about  the  understanding  of  December  8th,  it 
was  not  because  of  their  disposition  to  be  rude  or  to 
read  into  an  agreement  that  which  it  did  not  contain ; 
but  because  of  an  honest  misapprehension  on  the  part 
of  the  President  of  an  exceedingly  important  matter. 

On  December  31st,  they  received  his  final  reply  ; 
he  declined  to  meet  them  and  refused  also  to  change 
the  military  status  in  Charleston.  Indeed,  news  soon 
reached  the  South  Carolinians  that  the  relief  expe 
dition  already  mentioned  was  under  consideration. 
Their  rejoinder,1  highly  colored  on  account  of  their 
knowledge  of  the  plan  to  reenforce  Major  Anderson 
and  their  pique  at  the  failure  of  their  mission,  was 
sent  to  the  White  House  on  January  2,  1861.  It  was, 
1  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  I,  p.  120. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  203 

nevertheless,  a  strong  statement  of  the  case  for  secession. 
Buchanan  declined  to  receive  this  last  document,  and 
after  some  delay  submitted  the  remainder  of  the  corre 
spondence  to  Congress  in  response  to  a  call  for  infor 
mation  on  the  subject. 

It  was  the  message  accompanying  these  papers  that 
Davis  heard  read  on  January  9th,  as  he  returned  dis 
appointed  from  his  last  visit  to  the  President.  He 
knew  of  the  final  letter  of  the  commissioners  and 
thought  the  case  not  fairly  put  before  the  country  with 
that  paper  omitted.  He  therefore  replied  to  Buchanan 
in  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  insisting  on  its  submission. 
He  sent  a  certified  copy  to  the  clerk,  but  King,  of 
New  York,  objected  to  the  reading  of  such  a  "  trea 
sonable7'  utterance.  A  spirited  debate  ensued;  but 
Davis  knew  his  ground  and  he  succeeded  in  rebuking 
the  President  before  the  country  and  in  getting  South 
Carolina's  justification  spread  on  the  records  of  Con 
gress.1  It  was  a  shrewd  stroke,  but  one  that  did  not 
add  anything  to  the  Mississippian's  reputation,  nor 
tend  to  calm  the  angry  feelings  of  the  nation. 

On  the  following  day,  January  10th,  he  delivered  a 
formal  and  carefully  prepared  address,  which  he  de 
sired  posterity  to  accept  as  his  apologia.1*  In  compar 
ison  with  other  defenses  of  great  historic  causes,  it  suf 
fers  incalculably.  It  is  not  permeated  with  that  spirit 
of  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  weak  which  renders 
many  a  revolutionary  manifesto  immortal  ;  it  is  not  an 
appeal  to  the  enlightened  sentiment  of  the  world  on 
behalf  of  a  new  and  more  rational  religious  faith,  like 
the  famous  "  harangue"  of  William  of  Orange  ;  nor 

1  Cong.  Globe,  36th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  Jan.  9th. 
5  Rise  and  Fall,  Vol.  I,  p.  219. 


I/ 


204  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

does  Davis,  like  Jefferson  in  his  undying  Declaration, 
challenge  the  support  of  mankind  on  behalf  of  a  wider 
individual  liberty.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  reverse  of  all 
this  that  the  great  Southern  senator  asks ;  a  plea  for 
privilege,  for  the  execution  of  "his  bond,"  for 
"  equality  in  the  Union," — an  equality  which  meant 
nothing  more  nor  anything  less  than  the  expansion  of 
slavery.  By  ' '  your  votes  you  refuse  to  recognize  our 
institutions,"  he  repeats  for  the  hundredth  time. 
The  other  idea  advanced  in  various  forms  is  that  of 
state  sovereignty,  the  compact  theory  of  the  Constitu 
tion.1 

From  the  date  of  John  Marshall's  decision  in  the 
case  of  Hunter  vs.  Martin,  Virginians  had  been  taught 
by  their  ablest  politicians  that  the  Chief- Justice  was 
wrong  and  that  state  sovereignty  was  both  right  and 
practicable.  In  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi 
the  doctrine  dated  back  to  the  famous  Yazoo  land  con 
troversy.  In  South  Carolina  it  had  been  the  religion 
of  most  men  since  1832.  Calhoun  blew  upon  these  dry 
bones  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  and  con 
vinced  the  great  majority  of  Southerners  that  they 
were  a  part  of  a  living  organism  ;  that  secession  was  a 
legitimate  remedy  for  serious  ills  under  the  Constitu 
tion.  Davis  was  a  devoted  disciple  of  Calhouny  and, 
like  the  Carolinian,  he  was  a  statesman  rather  than  a 
politician.  He  would  not  dissolve  the  Union  if  it 
could  be  held  together  by  any  sort  of  arrangement 
which  left  the  South  intact ;  it  was  only  as  a 

1  For  the  framework  and  growth  of  this  doctrine,  the  reader  is  re 
ferred  to  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798-99 ;  to  the 
rulings  and  decisions  of  the  Virginia  Court  of  Appeals  and  the 
writings  of  John  Taylor,  of  Caroline,  1815-1821  ;  and  to  the  fine 
spun  theories  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  after  1828. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  205 

dernier  ressort  that  he  would  invoke  the  inalienable^ 
right. 

He  had  come  to  this  position  reluctantly,  since  the  \  -^ 
failure  of  the  Charleston  convention.  When  he  lost  a 
his  hold  on  President  Buchanan,  he  saw  that  the  sands 
were  running  low.  On  January  5th,  he  entered  into  a 
caucus  with  the  Southern  senators  and  assumed  his 
share  of  the  responsibility  for  advising  the  cotton 
states  once  again  to  hasten  out  of  the  Union  and  form 
a  new  Confederacy.  They  further  asked  their  state 
legislatures  or  conventions  whether  they  should  return 
to  their  homes  or  remain  in  Washington  to  impede, 
as  best  they  could,  the  progress  of  the  administration 
in  any  plans  of  coercion  that  might  be  resolved  upon. 
They  were  authorized  to  remain  at  their  posts  and  the 
South  hastened  on  in  its  revolutionary  course. 

In  full  realization  of  these  facts  and  having  done 
what  he  could  to  get  the  new  government  on  foot  and 
ready  to  buckle  on  the  war  harness,  Davis  made  this 
careful  apologia  for  himself  and  the  South.  He  re 
mained  yet  ten  days  in  Washington,  though  he  was 
not  an  active  participant  in  the  affairs  of  the  Senate. 
On  January  20th,  he  wrote  his  friend,  Pierce,  the  ex- 
President  : 

"  I  have  often  and  sadly  turned  my  thoughts  to  you 
during  the  troublous  times  through  which  we  have 
been  passing,  and  now  I  come  to  the  hard  task  of  an 
nouncing  to  you  that  the  hour  is  at  hand  which  closes 
my  connection  with  the  United  States  for  the  independ 
ence  and  union  of  which  my  father  bled,  and  in  the 
service  of  which  I  have  sought  to  emulate  the  example 
he  set  for  my  guidance.  Mississippi,  not  as  a  matter 
of  choice  but  of  necessity,  has  resolved  to  enter  on  the 


206  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

trial  of  secession.  Those  who  have  driven  her  to  this 
alternative  threaten  to  deprive  her  of  the  right  to  re 
quire  that  her  government  shall  rest  on  the  consent  of 
the  governed,  to  substitute  foreign  force  for  domestic 
support,  to  reduce  a  state  to  the  condition  from  which 
the  colony  arose.  .  .  .  General  Gushing  was  here 
last  week  and  when  we  parted  it  seemed  like  taking- 
leave  of  a  brother.  I  leave  immediately  for  Mississippi 
and  know  not  what  may  devolve  upon  me  after  my 
return.  Civil  war  has  only  horror  for  me,  but  what 
ever  circumstances  demand  shall  be  met  as  a  duty  and 
I  trust  be  so  discharged  that  you  will  not  be  ashamed 
of  our  former  connection  or  cease  to  be  my  friend."1 

On  the  following  day,  the  Southern  senators  took 
formal  leave  of  their  colleagues.  Davis  had  passed  a 
sleepless  night,  due  to  the  pressing  responsibility  of 
his  present  course  as  well  as  to  illness.2  Nevertheless, 
he  appeared  in  his  accustomed  place.  The  floor,  halls, 
and  galleries  were  crowded  with  anxious  and  earnest 
spectators,  as  they  had  been  only  on  great  occasions, 
when  Webster  or  Clay  spoke.  Amid  profound  silence, 
he  arose  to  bid  his  adieu  ;  the  whole  world  knew  that 
it  was  too  late  to  expect  anything  but  an  adieu.  He 
told  his  story  in  simple,  chaste  English,  with  here  and 
there  a  touch  of  rhetoric,  but  in  such  a  sad  and  con 
vincing  manner  that  many  a  tear  fell  upon  cheeks  un 
accustomed  to  the  moisture  of  emotion.  What  he  said 
was  but  a  conclusion  of  the  address  of  January  10th. 
It  was  not  difficult  for  that  generation  to  understand 
his  doctrine.  The  great  mass  of  men  did  not  then  feel 

1  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  366-367. 

2  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  696.    Letter  of  Joseph  Davis,  January  3d,  in 
the  State  Department,  Collection  of  Davis  MSS. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  207 

resentful  toward  him,  but  toward  the  incoming  admin 
istration  and  the  party  which  supported  it. 

It  was  suggested  in  intensely  partisan  Bepublicau 
circles  that  Davis  and  his  confreres  ought  to  be  arrested 
before  they  left  the  capital.  Such  an  attempt  would 
have  produced  a  riot  in  Washington  ;  but  had  this 
been  done  without  disturbance,  no  Federal  court  be 
fore  which  Davis  could  have  been  cited  would  have 
pronounced  against  him.  The  judges  of  the  subordi 
nate  tribunals  would  have  released  him  without  serious 
delay.  The  Supreme  Court  would  have  ruled  in 
favor  of  his  cause.  The  judiciary,  since  the  death 
of  Marshall,  had  constantly  leaned  toward  the  states' 
rights  view  j  the  country  at  large,  however  illog 
ical  it  may  appear,  believed  that  any  state  had  the 
right  to  secede  when  its  special  interest  seemed  to  be  in 
imminent  peril. l  Unmolested.  Davis  went  his  way  to 
Mississippi,  to  play  a  part  yet  more  conspicuous  than 
hitherto  in  this  saddest  drama  of  modern  history. 

A  theory  has  been  advanced,  and  was  once  gener 
ally  accepted  outside  of  the  South,  to  the  effect  that 
this  sundering  of  the  Union  was  the  result  of  a  con 
spiracy  in  which  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  principal 
character  ;  and  the  fact  that  he  was  the  champion  of 
South  Carolina,  a  leader  in  the  caucuses  of  the  * 
Southern  senators,  and  that  he  remained  at  his  post/ 
for  some  two  weeks  after  Mississippi  had  seceded,  giv-j 
ing  aid  and  advice  to  the  promoters  of  the  Southern 
revolution,  has  been  taken  as  sufficient  proof  of  this 
contention.  But  the  truth  is  that  Davis  did  not  desiri 
to  see  the  South  secede  except  in  last  resort ;  he  was  np 

1  See  attitude  of  Northern  states  on  Fugitive  Slave  Law  ;  the 
South  was  well-nigh  unanimous  in  this  opinion. 


208  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

c/  f  longer  the  extremist  of  1850,  though  he  believed  the 
conditions  culminating  in  the  election  of  Lincoln  were 
worse  for  the  South  than  those  of  that  year.  Mr. 
Ehodes  has  well  said  that,  if  secrecy  is  a  condition  of 
conspiracy,  the  Southern  leaders  of  1861  were  certainly 
not  conspirators,  for  they  did  everything  publicly. 
The  newspapers  printed  all  the  " resolves"  of  their 
"secret"  caucuses;  and  the  Congressional  Globe  is 
filled  with  their  warnings  and  their  threats.  Davis 
was  a  leader  in  these  meetings  and  a  promoter  of  seces 
sion,  because  he  had  long  been  the  trusted  mouthpiece 
of  his  state,  whose  people  had  been  talking  about  it  as 
an  alternative  in  certain  contingencies,  since  the  open 
ing  of  the  Mexican  War. 

The  character  of  the  movement  of  1861  was,  how 
ever,  unique.  The  shifting  of  the  centre  of  Southern 
civilization  to  the  lower  South  has  been  described. 
The  vitality  of  the  slavery  system  was  no  longer  in 
Virginia  and  her  neighboring  states,  but  in  that  tier 
of  commonwealths  stretching  from  Charleston  to  New 
Orleans.  The  wealth  was  also  largely  found  there. 
This  system  and  the  opulence  and  culture  which  grew 
out  of  it  were  based  on  the  monopoly  of  cotton  grow 
ing  and  to  some  extent  on  sugar  culture.  As  has 
been  shown  by  Mr.  Phillips,  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin,1  the  lords  of  this  region  lived  along  the 
river  fronts  or  in  the  neighboring  lowland  counties ; 
that  is,  wherever  the  cotton  plant  flourished.  The 
law  of  the  survival  of  the  strongest,  which  applied  to 
planting,  just  as  it  does  to  petroleum  production  in  our 
day,  forced  the  small  planter  and  farmer  to  the  poorer 

lAmer.  Hist.  Rev..  Vol.  XI,  p.  798;  South  Atlantic  Quarterly, 
Vol.  II,  p.  231. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  209 

lands  or  away  to  the  West,  where  there  were  better 
chances  of  his  becoming  a  large  proprietor.  During 
the  three  decades  immediately  preceding  1861,  this  evo 
lution  found  in  the  cotton  belt,  now  the  "  black  belt," 
its  full  and  rapid  realization.  The  opportunity  of  the 
time  was  offered  in  the  lower  South,  and  Northern  men 
of  means  as  well  as  the  younger  sons  of  the  old  South 
flocked  there  by  the  thousand.  The  wealthy  men,  the 
millionaires  of  1860,  lived  on  these  great  plantations 
or  in  New  Orleans,  Mobile,  and  Charleston,  leaving 
their  hundreds  of  slaves  to  the  management  of  thrifty 
overseers. 

If  any  one  doubts  that  the  South  was  rich  in  1860, 
let  him  consult  the  census  of  that  year.  South  Caro 
lina  stood  far  above  Massachusetts  in  the  assessed 
values  of  property,  and  New  Orleans  was  one  of  the 
large  centres  of  commerce  and  a  city  of  semi -European 
culture.  Still  the  extent  of  this  wealth  was  limited. 
The  great  plantation  lords  lived  in  two  small  areas, 
one  embracing  about  a  fourth  of  the  state  of  South 
Carolina,  the  region  about  Charleston  and  Beaufort ; 
the  other,  a  little  larger,  reaching  from  Wilkinson 
County,  Mississippi,  to  a  point  about  one  hundred 
miles  above  Vicksburg.  In  these  confined  but  fertile 
regions  dwelt  the  monopolists  of  1860,  who  were 
ready  for  war  at  any  time  to  avoid  a  surrender  of  their 
privileges,  or  franchises, — to  use  a  more  modern  term. 
Their  allies  and  lieutenants  in  the  coming  conflict 
were  the  next  lower  class,  made  up  of  less  wealthy 
planters  who  lived  in  the  "  black  belt,"  beginning 
about  Washington  City  and  extending  to  New  Or 
leans,  a  region  on  the  average  less  than  a  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  wide.  Thus  something  like  one-tenth  of 


V\ 


210  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

the  area  of  the  South  controlled  the  political  action  of 
the  remainder ;  while  less  than  one-twentieth  of  the 
population  belonged  to  this  ruling,  monopolistic  class. 
It  was  the  power  of  concentrated  wealth,  the  value  of 
lauds  and  negroes  devoted  to  the  production  of  the 
staples — cotton,  tobacco,  and  sugar — that  dominated 
the  thought  of  Southern  men.  In  these  princes  of  the 
plantation,  the  small  planter  saw  his  beau  ideal  in 
life  ;  and  it  was,  therefore,  not  difficult  to  bring  such 
men  to  the  support  of  the  larger  masters,  as  it  was 
also  not  a  rare  thing  for  a  small  planter  to  become  a 
great  slave-holder.  The  charmed  circle  of  Southern 
aristocracy,  like  that  of  the  English  nobility,  was  not 
rigidly  closed ;  and  aristocracy  here  as  in  England 
was  therefore  popular. 

What  made  this  obedience  to  or  acquiescence  in  the 
program  of  Davis  and  his  compeers  in  1861  still  easier 
was  the  general  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  state 
sovereignty — a  doctrine,  as  already  noted,  sedulously 
taught  since  cotton-growing  became  the  business  of  the 
South.  The  state  had  become,  long  before  1850,  the 
idol  of  the  Southern  man's  heart ;  it  was  a  fetich,  a 
sovereign  as  potent  over  the  people  as  was  Freder 
ick  II  or  Louis  XIY. 

It  was  a  situation  similar  to  that  which  we  observe 
in  the  industrial  system  of  the  United  States  at  the 
present  day,  untrammeled  in  the  main  by  the  power  of  a 
central  government,  and  licensed  by  the  individual 
states  to  do  its  will  on  the  people  in  general.  The 
lords  of  industry  and  transportation  of  the  year  1906 
are  as  loth  to  surrender  any  of  their  monopoly  rights 
as  were  those  of  1861 ;  and,  according  to  the  view  of 
many  acute  students,  there  is  as  much  slavery  con- 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  211 

nected  with  the  later  as  with  the  earlier  system,  and 
far  more  hardship  and  suffering.     So  that  when  a 
great  Southern  senator,  worth  a  half  million  dollars, 
equivalent  in  political  power  to  several  millions  in  our 
day,  threatened  to  break  up  the  national  government, 
he  was  doing  the  same  kind  of  thing,  and  he  afterward 
assumed  the  same   dictatorial  mien,   that  the  great 
Northern  senator  does  when  he  defies  the  power  of  the 
nation  to  fix  laws  which  shall  regulate  the  railway 
traffic  of  the  country.     If  there  were  treason  in  the  ex 
treme  demands  of  privilege  in  1861,  there  is  treason  in 
the  same  demands  now  presented  to  the  people.     Jeffej-  \ 
son  Davis  was  the  champion  of  vested  rights  ;  the  ad-  \ 
vantage  he  had  over  his  younger  brother  of  the  present  j 
time  consisted  in  the  then  unexploded  doctrine  of  state  ^ 
supremacy. 

The  people  of  the  South,  in  1861,  had  made  up  their 
minds  on  secession.  It  remained  for  them  to  execute 
the  inexorable  decree.  They  were  absolutely  sure 
that  they  were  right  and  that  their  interests  were  at 
stake.  The  other  and  sometimes  greater  question  of 
expediency  they  were  not  prepared  to  answer.  They 
looked  to  their  leaders  to  determine  this.  These 
leaders,  of  whom  Davis  was  the  foremost,  must  be 
held  responsible  for  the  results  of  a  premature  or  a 
too  long  delayed  contest  for  what  may  be  acknowledged 
to  have  been  their  chartered  rights. 

One  frequently  hears  the  remark  from  the  common 
man  of  the  South  that  1850  was  the  time  for  secession. 
That  was  the  opinion  of  Davis,  Quitman  and  even 
Calhoun.  In  1860  the  North  had  grown  immensely  ; 
her  railways  bound  her  varied  interests  together ;  it 
was  easier  for  her  to  fight  than  it  would  have  been  ten 


212  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

years  earlier.  In  this  view  one  forgets  that  the  South 
had  also  grown  and  what  was  more  she  had  had  time 
to  prepare  European  opinion  for  the  novel  spectacle  of 
a  new  government  among  the  nations  resting  on  the 
" fundamental"  principle  of  African  slavery.  The 
changes  in  the  political  thought  of  France  which  took 
place  after  1850  were  favorable  to  her  ;  the  free  trade 
alliance  between  France  and  Great  Britain  was  also 
propitious.  But  Germany  was  a  new  factor ;  and  as 
for  Eussia  not  much  was  expected  to  come  from  that 
strange  country  in  aid  of  the  democratic  North.  These 
things  must  be  kept  in  mind  when  we  estimate  the  re 
sponsibility  resting  on  Davis  for  leading  a  willing 
people  into  what  he  knew  would  be  an  awful  revolu 
tion.  He  studied  the  European  situation,  and  had 
correspondents  in  France,  who  since  1854  had  reported 
to  him  the  idiosyncrasies  of  Louis  Napoleon  as  well  as 
the  phantasies  of  English  noblemen. l  He  knew  Eng 
land  and  her  aristocracy  well,  and  counted  on  aid  from 
that  quarter. 

Indeed  when  one  carefully  notes  the  trend  of  opinion 
in  England  and  France,  one  is  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  was  much  better  reason  for  the  South  to  ex 
pect  recognition  than  there  had  been  for  the  American 
colonists  to  hope  for  aid  in  1776.  And  the  Southern 
leaders  kept  the  situation  of  1776  constantly  in  mind. 
As  to  resources,  there  was  no  comparison  between  the 
seceding  states  and  the  thirteen  colonies,  so  far  superior 
were  those  of  the  former.  As  to  unity  of  feeling  and 
harmony  of  action,  the  South  had  a  great  advantage 
over  their  ancestors.  On  the  question  of  right,  which 

1  Letter  of  E.  B.  Buchanan  to  Davis,  La  Rochelle,  France, 
August  1,  1854,  State  Department  papers. 


DAVIS  AND  SECESSION  213 

always  profoundly  influences  men  in  such  crises,  the 
slave-holders  of  1860  were  not  worse  off  than  their 
famous  predecessors  of  1776.  The  right  of  a  sover 
eign  state  to  secede  from  a  voluntary  union  was  much 
clearer  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  than  that  of  a  colony  to 
break  away  from  the  mother  country. 

In  the  matter  of  economic  interest  the  South — the 
one  cotton  producing  region  of  the  world — had  more 
to  offer  than  the  North.  And  as  to  the  opening  which 
this  break-up  of  the  threatening  power  of  united  North 
America  would  make  for  the  aggrandizement  of  land- 
hungry  foreign  states,  it  was  evident  that  Europe 
would  be  the  gainer.  Besides  English  jealousy  was 
still  a  factor  to  be  thrown  into  the  scale.  Indeed,  does 
it  not  seem  strange  that  the  South  was  not  recognized  ? 
The  astute  Bismarck  said  a  year, or  two  before  his 
death  that  the  failure  of  Europe  to  take  advantage  of 
the  Civil  War  and  destroy  the  power  of  Anglo-Saxon 
America  was  the  mistake  of  the  age.  And  looked  at 
from  the  viewpoint  of  European  interest  alone,  the  Iron 
Chancellor  was  right. 

Beyond  all  this,  there  was  the  reasonable  hope  that 
the  people  of  the  North  would  not  sustain  the  Eepubli- 
cans  in  the  event  of  war.  It  was  only  by  narrow 
margins  that  Lincoln  had  won  in  the  great  states  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  and  the  Middle  West 
was  by  no  means  a  unit  against  the  South.  There 
were  also  Cushing,  Butler,  Seymour,  Fernando  Wood, 
Bigler,  Douglas,  and  even  ex- President  Buchanan, 
leaders  of  much  influence,  who  would  certainly  not  sup 
port  a  war  policy  or  persuade  men  into  battle  against 
the  South.  The  Democrats,  timid  commercial  centres, 
and  the  unwarlike  tastes  of  an  industrial  society  would 


214  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

combine  to  weaken  the  arm  of  coercion.  The  resist 
ance  of  the  Northern  people  to  their  government  was 
relied  on  by  the  South  and  not  unnaturally.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  South  expected  that  slavery  would 
prove  a  valuable  asset  in  the  game  of  war,  for  the 
negroes  could  produce  an  abundant  supply  of  pro 
visions  as  long  as  they  were  required.  The  white  males 
would  have  only  the  work  of  superintendence.  This 
would  leave  a  large  number  of  the  population  free  for 
military  service.  So  long  as  the  war  was  conducted 
along  the  border,  this  system  would  operate  without 
serious  break-downs.  These  considerations  tended  in 
the  eyes  of  thoughtful  men  to  equalize  the  resources  of 
the  prospective  combatants. 

When  Davis  presided  over  the  Southern  senatorial 
caucuses  of  early  1861,  he  must  have  laid  bare  all  these 
facts  and  conditions.  When  he  saw  the  Southern  gov 
ernors  or  other  makers  of  opinion  in  person,  both 
before  and  after  this  date,  surely  he  recited  to  them 
these  chances  of  success.  The  outlook  was  exceedingly 
promising.  Is  it  not  a  mere  excuse  to  say  that  the 
"lost  cause"  was  doomed  from  the  beginning ?  Still 
the  unexpected  event  often  proves  the  undoing  of  great 
undertakings  and  this  was  the  case  with  Davis  and 
the  South.  We  shall  see  what  that  unexpected  event 
was  and  how  the  North's  chances  increased  because 
of  Southern  blunders.  While  the  Mississippian  pro 
foundly  regretted  the  necessity  of  secession,  as  may  be 
seen  in  his  speeches  and  in  his  private  correspondence, 
it  was  not  because  he  thought  he  was  leading  a  forlorn 
hope. 

V,Jt  (kJ  V,    *~(viJt    oo  r^  ? 


CHAPTEE  XIII 

THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY 

THE  various  constituent  conventions  of  the  lower  > 
Southern  states  chose  delegates  to  a  general  convention 
which  was  called  to  assemble  in  Montgomery,  Ala.,  at 
a  time  when  feeling  ran  high  and  anger  at  the  Repub 
licans  was  on  the  increase.  Yet  during  the  month  of 
January,  these  excited  people  took  pains  to  formulate 
a  unique  policy  with  regard  to  the  new  government. 
Intensely  u  secession  "  legislatures  had  called  together 
the  various  state  conventions  in  December ;  when 
they  met,  it  was  everywhere  found  that  they  were  de 
cidedly  " conservative"  in  character.  Few  outright 
opponents  to  the  revolution  had  been  chosen,  but  the 
men  who  had  favored  delay — representatives  of  the  Bell 
and  Everett,  and  Douglas  parties,  small  as  they  had 
been — now  found  themselves  pushed  to  the  front  by 
their  fellow  citizens.1  In  Georgia,  the  party  of  delay 
was  very  strong ;  in  Alabama,  Yancey  was  a  member 
of  the  state  convention,  but  he  was  purposely  defeated 
for  the  general  convention.  In  South  Carolina,  Ehelt 
was  chosen,  but  the  remainder  of  the  delegation  was 
opposed  to  him  in  sentiment,  most  of  its  members 
having  at  one  time  or  another  resisted  the  extreme 
policy  of  the  Mercury  group. 

This  plan  of  sending  to  the  general  convention  of  the 

1  Life  of  Stephens,  pp.  380-381, 


216  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

South,  men  who  had  either  opposed  secession  or  fa 
vored  compromise  was  designed  to  enlist  all  classes  of 
the  people  in  the  cause.  The  universal  acceptance  of 
states'  rights  as  a  political  truism  made  the  realization 
of  the  scheme  easy.  Secession  was  a  doctrinaire  move 
ment,  resting  for  strength  on  local  patriotism  and  the 
important  principle  of  the  inviolability  of  property 
rights.  Its  leaders  were  not,  as  has  been  thought, 
mere  office  or  honor  hunters ;  they  were,  with  a  few 
notable  exceptions,  willing  to  retire  when  the  work  of 
agitation  was  done,  leaving  their  opposing  brethren 
and  neighbors  to  reap  the  rewards  and  distinctions 
which,  in  1861,  were  looked  upon  as  great  and  certain. 

The  conservatives,  like  Stephens  of  Georgia,  ac 
cepted  the  friendly  and  unselfish  overture.  This, 
however,  put  the  convention  in  the  power  of  those  who 
had  but  recently  loudly  proclaimed  the  whole  move 
ment  unwise  if  not  unlawful.  It  was  a  strange  spec- 
i/  tacle — a  revolution  led  by  its  opponents. 

Yancey  resented  the  policy  as  a  repudiation  of  him 
self  and  he  thought  it  could  not  be  followed  without 
injury  to  the  cause.  From  the  beginning,  Ehett  of 
South  Carolina,  railed  at  this  "politicians'  "  scheme. 
It  looked  to  him  like  turning  the  revolution  into  a  reac 
tion.  Yet  he  had  no  more  reason  to  complain  than  Yan 
cey,  whose  state  sent  only  one  i 1  original '  >  secessionist 
to  Montgomery,  leaving  the  great  head  of  the  agitation 
at  home.  Stephens,  who  had  been  in  correspondence 
with  Lincoln  ;  who  had  done  all  he  could  to  prevent 
secession  in  Georgia,  was  rather  surprised  at  the  con 
servative  influence  in  Montgomery,  as  he  had  been  at 
his  own  election.  But  he  liked  the  prevailing  atmos 
phere  of  the  new  capital  and  soon  reconciled  himself 


FOKMATION  OF  THE  CONFEDEBACY    217 

to  his  role.  He  said  of  his  co-workers  :  "Upon  the 
whole,  this  Congress,  taken  all  in  all,  is  the  ablest, 
soberest,  most  intelligent,  and  conservative  body  I  was 
ever  in. "  1 

As  a  result,  the  Southern  constitutional  convention 
or  Congress,  as  it  was  called,  reenacted  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  and  proclaimed  anew  the  old  Constitu 
tion,  making  a  few  changes  which  provided  for  the 
safety  of  slavery  as  an  institution,  for  the  dogma  of 
states'  rights,  and  for  a  less  democratic  administra 
tion.  It  is  clear  enough  in  all  the  proceedings  of  this 
Montgomery  convention,  that  the  revolution  was 
henceforth  to  be  conservative,  paradoxical  as  this  may 
appear.  It  was  provided  that  the  Confederate  Presi 
dent  should  hold  office  for  six  years  and  not  be  reeli- 
gible ;  members  of  the  cabinet  were  to  speak  on  the 
floor  of  Congress,  like  English  ministers,  in  behalf  of 
their  reports  and  recommendations. 

So  marked  was  this  aristocratic  tendency  that  a 
long-term  Senate  was  proposed,  some  going  so  far  as 
to  suggest  that  members  should  be  elected  for  life. 
In  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  a  constitutional  mon 
archy  was  discussed ; a  and  Mrs.  Pryor  says  in  her 
Peace  and  War  that  Southern  ladies  who  left  Washing 
ton  with  their  husbands  to  seek  their  fortunes  under 
a  new  regime,  spoke  of  going  South  where  a  kind  of 
empire  was  to  be  established.  There  was  probably  no 
wide-spread  disposition  of  this  kind  ;  but  the  natural 
feelings  of  the  Southern  aristocracy  prompted  these 

1  Johnston  and  Browne,  p.  392. 

2 Columbus  (Ga.)  Times ;  Augusta  Chronicle  and  Sentinel.  Senti 
ment  expressed  in  the  South  Carolina  legislature  as  reported  to  the 
Baltimore  American. 


218  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

individual  aspirations  and  dictated  the  decidedly  con 
servative  tone  of  the  new  constitution  and  government. 

This  re-adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  also  regarded  by  the  strong  Khett  and 
Yaucey  influence  not  only  as  a  repudiation  of  their 
doctrinaire  teachings  on  free  trade,  but  as  a  reaction 
in  favor  of  the  old  political  managers.  It  was  the  sen 
atorial  or  "  Yankee  "  party  that  seemed  to  them  to 
cling  so  closely  to  Washington  tradition  that  they 
could  not  frame  a  new  constitution  and  make  "brand- 
new"  laws  to  suit  the  changed  conditions.  The  estab 
lishment  of  the  former  mail  routes  and  judicial  districts 
was  to  the  Mercury  an  "  aping"  of  that  filthy,  reeking 
government  which  the  noble  South  had  now  shaken  off. 
The  conciliatory  policy  toward  the  border  states  was 
likewise  very  distasteful  to  these  extreme  secessionists. 
It  is  all  a  "  beg  to  the  border  states, ' ?  said  a  reporter 
of  events  at  Montgomery,  t  i  and  they  beg  the  Aboli 
tionists.  There  will  be  no  war  ;  not  even  South  Car 
olina  can  give  it  to  us,  the  only  war  there  being  rele 
gated  to  the  poet's  corner  of  the  Mercury.1'1 1  This 
cajoling  of  the  wavering,  this  failure  to  declare  free 
trade  with  Europe,  and  the  ascendancy  of  conservative 
influences  in  the  convention,  meant  to  the  ardent  South 
Carolinians  that  a  representative  of  the  old  senatorial 
junto  would  be  elected  President  and  that  "recon 
struction"  would  follow  without  war,  or  a  trial  of  the 
strength  of  the  new  and  righteous  cause. 

A  more  disheartening  thing  than  the  failure  of  free 
trade,  or  the  election  of  a  distasteful  man  as  President 

1  Montgomery  correspondence  of  the  Charleston  Mercury,  Feb. 
6-13,  1861,  -which  the  senior  Khett  supervised  when  he  did  not  di 
rectly  inspire  it. 


FOEMATION  OF  THE  CONFEDEEACY    219 

was  the  declaration  by  these  pro-slavery  extremists 
that  the  importation  of  African  slaves  was  to  be  for 
bidden  forever  and  that  those  detected  in  violating  this 
decree  would  be  treated  as  pirates.  A  stricter  law 
than  that  which  Yancey  and  Davis  had  protested 
against  in  1858  was  thus  enacted  in  the  name  of  slavery 
itself.  The  policy  of  this  action  will  be  treated  later. 
The  South  Carolina  revolutionists  declared  it  the  sever 
est  blow  their  institution  had  ever  suffered.  The  Mer 
cury  of  February  12th,  said  that  "  while  Arizona  and 
the  teeming  states  of  Mexico  lie  open  to  us,"  and  Eng 
land  and  France  set  the  example  of  employing  coolies 
to  do  their  work,  ' t  we  preclude  forever  the  formation 
of  the  one  policy  which  can  enable  us  to  subdue  and 
civilize  those  lands." 

The  paper  which  voiced  these  and  other  even  severer 
criticisms  of  the  convention  and  its  work,  was  the 
largest  in  the  South.  Its  circulation  was  increasing 
daily ;  new  and  improved  machinery  had  to  be  in 
stalled  *  to  enable  the  management  to  supply  the  de 
mand.  "  Nearly  forty  years  we  have  advocated  the 
Southern  policy  now  reaching  a  conclusion  in  an  inde 
pendent  government,"  it  boasted,  a  fact  which  lent 
the  more  influence  to  the  journal  and  its  owner, 
who  was  now  beginning  to  oppose  the  very  government 
he  had  done  so  much  to  establish. 

From  what  has  been  stated,  it  will  be  seen  that  there 
was  decided  opposition  to  Davis  as  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency  even  before  his  name  was  mentioned  in 
Montgomery.  It  was  well  known  that  Ehett  thought 
himself  the  logical  candidate,  just  as  Seward  had  been 
regarded  as  having  the  best  claim  to  the  nomination 
1  Mercury  of  February  18, 1861. 


220  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

at  Chicago  in  May,  1860.  But  South  Carolinians, 
while  they  followed  Ehett' s  teaching,  were  unwilling 
to  entrust  to  such  an  enthusiast  the  destinies  of  their 
new-born  government.  They  had  protected  themselves 
against  this  by  electing  a  delegation  to  Montgomery 
more  or  less  closely  affiliated  with  the  so-called  "  sena 
torial77  influence.  James  Chestnut,  William  Porcher 
Miles,  E.  W.  Barn  well,  Memminger,  Keitt  and  Boyce 
had  all  been  prominent  in  Washington  during  the  past 
decade.  With  Ehett,  they  composed  the  list  of  depu 
ties.  Their  first  choice  for  President  was,  to  the  dis 
gust  of  Ehett,  Alexander  H.  Stephens.  This  proving 
inexpedient,  they  willingly  supported  Jefferson  Davis. 
Ehett  perceived  the  coming  defeat  of  his  own  ambition 
as  early  as  February  3d,  the  day  before  the  formal 
opening  of  the  convention.  He  wrote  to  his  news 
paper :  "The  convention  means  to  elect  Senator 
Davis  President."  This  he  at  once  dubbed  the 
"  Washington  -politician  "  scheme. 

If  such  a  plan  as  this  had  been  mooted  in  Washing 
ton,  Davis  had  discouraged  it,  for  he  went  home  in 
January,  1861,  to  receive  high  military  appointment, 
which  it  was  confidently  expected  the  nascent  Con 
federacy  would  endorse.  This  would  be  more  im 
portant  than  civil  service.  He  wished  to  command  an 
army  for  the  new  nation  and  this  desire  of  his  was 
seconded  by  the  Mississippi  convention.  His  position 
was  regarded  as  settled  before  the  delegates  came  to 
gether  at  Montgomery.  The  presidency  was  thus  to  be 
given  to  some  other  commonwealth.  Why  the  repre 
sentatives  from  the  several  states  decided  to  change 
this  plan  and  confer  the  first  office  upon  one  who  did  not 
wish  it,  thus  disappointing  a  half-dozen  able  Southern 


FOEMATION  OP  THE  CONFEDERACY     221 

politicians,  has  not  yet  been  fully  explained  by  any  of 
the  writers  of  memoirs  dealing  with  this  epoch.1 

Ehett's  surmise  proved  correct.  On  February  8th, 
the  convention  was  to  elect  a  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  On  the  night  of  the  7th,  the  various  delegations 
discussed  the  subject  afresh.  A  plan  agreed  upon 
soon  after  the  4th,  between  the  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  members  to  make  Toombs  President,  which 
seems  to  have  been  acquiesced  in  by  Mississippi  and 
other  states,  was  changed.  The  Georgia  men  met  at 
10  A.  M.  on  the  8th  formally  to  propose  his  name. 
They  learned,  however,  that  Florida,  South  Carolina, 
Alabama,  and  Louisiana  had  agreed  to  support  Davis. 
Toombs,  who  was  present,  manifested  surprise  j  he  had 
already  said  that  he  would  accept  the  office.  But  the 
Georgians  yielded  and  no  opposition  was  offered  to  the 
nomination  and  election  of  Davis  in  the  regular  meet 
ing  of  the  Congress.  Stephens  was  at  once  proposed 
as  the  candidate  for  the  vice- presidency.  He  was 
likewise  unanimously  elected,  the  convention  thereby 
putting  itself  on  record  again,  as  in  favor  of  a 
conservative  policy.2  Ehett  gave  in  his  adherence; 
but  a  few  days  later  he  voiced  in  the  Mercury  the 
charge  that  "  Jefferson  Davis  will  exert  all  his  powers 
to  reunite  the  Confederacy  to  the  Empire. "  On  Feb 
ruary  14th,  he  wrote:  "Here  the  convention  is  at 
sea  ;  and  vague  dreads  of  the  future,  and  terrors  of  the 
people,  and  in  some  degree  want  of  statesmanship, 

1  Possibly  the  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Montgomery  con 
vention  by  Rhett,  now  known  to  be  in  existence,  may  explain  this. 

3  This  account  is  substantially  that  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens  : 
Johnston  and  Browne,  pp.  389-390.  See  also  letters  of  Thomas 
Cobb  in  Publications  of  Southern  Historical  Association,  for  June 
and  August,  1907. 


222  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

paralyze  all  useful  and  essential  reform.  Let  your 
people  prepare  their  minds  for  a  failure  in  the  future 
permanent  Southern  Constitution.  For  South  Carolina 
is  about  to  be  saddled  with  almost  every  grievance, 
except  Abolition  [against]  which  she  has  long  strug 
gled  and  [on  account  of  which]  she  has  just  withdrawn 
from  the  United  States  government.  .  .  .  The 
fruit  of  the  labors  of  thirty  odd  years,  in  strife  and 
bitterness,  is  about  to  slip  through  our  fingers.  This 
is  only  the  beginning  of  our  ills." 

This  high  and  responsible  honor  came  to  Davis  as  a 
surprise,  for  we  may  believe  him  when  he  says  that l 
" adequate  precautions"  against  such  an  event  had 
been  taken.  He  manifested,  too,  a  becoming  sense  of 
the  dangers  and  disasters  which  might  lie  ahead. 
However,  he  could  not  decline  such  an  office  conferred 
under  such  circumstances.  He  set  out  for  Montgomery, 
crossing  the  states  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  and 
seeing  a  little  of  Georgia  on  the  way.  The  people 
flocked  to  the  railway  stations  to  greet  their  new 
President  and  to  hear  from  him  as  much  of  his  future 
policy  as  he  was  disposed  to  communicate.  He  spoke 
to  large  gatherings  at  every  stop  of  the  train,  and 
sought,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  Else  and  Fall  of  the  Con 
federate  Government,  to  disillusion  the  minds  of  those 
who  thought  there  would  be  no  war.  The  newspapers 
of  the  day,  both  Northern  and  Southern,  make  him 
fulminate  against  the  North  on  every  occasion.  Davis 
undoubtedly  uttered  threats  at  Opelika,  Ala.,  in  case 
the  South  should  be  invaded.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
was  entirely  unlike  him  to  have  indulged  in  the  empty 
braggadocio,  attributed  to  him  in  the  New  York 
1  Memoir,  Vol.  II,  p.  18. 


FOEMATION  OF  THE  CONFEDEEACY    223 

journals.  He  appeared  in  Montgomery  on  February 
17th,  and  heard  from  the  portico  of  the  historic 
Exchange  Hotel  a  warm  address  of  welcome  from 
William  L.  Yancey,  who  closed  it  with  the  declara 
tion  :  "The  man  and  the  hour  have  met. "  On  the 
following  day  he  received  the  welcome  of  the  Confeder 
ate  Congress  from  Ehett  himself,  the  gods  of  compro 
mise  intending  thus  to  force  a  new  "  era  of  good  feel 
ing.7'  A  strange  fortune  it  was  that  here  assembled 
these  three  ardent  friends  of  "Texas",  all  warm 
disciples  of  Calhoun,  who  had  worked  together  in 
Congress  in  1845.  It  was  impossible  for  them  to  be 
more  than  outwardly  cordial  on  this  celebrated  occa 
sion.  They  were  each  destined  to  have  a  share  in  the 
undoing  of  the  cause  for  which  they  had  so  long 
striven. 

The  inaugural  of  the  President-elect  was  temperate, 
wise,  astute ;  few  could  find  fault  with  what  he  pro 
posed  and  none  could  decry  the  calm,  resolute  dignity  , 
with  which  he  started  upon  the  untried  way.  Davis 
stood  on  the  portico  of  the  antique  capitol,  which 
looks  down  from  a  noble  hilltop  upon  the  fine  old 
Southern  town,  within  whose  bounds  this  everlasting 
slavery  question  had  been  hotly  discussed  for  twenty 
or  more  years.  Montgomery  was  the  heart  of  the 
slave  country  and  well  it  was  that  this  great  experi 
ment  in  a  slave-government  should  begin  there. 

Davis  did  not  mention  the  subject — an  omission 
he  had  hardly  ever  made  since  he  entered  public 
life  in  1844.  He  discussed  the  tariff  and  agriculture 
very  much  as  Thomas  Jefferson  would  have  done.  An  • 
army  and  navy,  he  thought,  ought  to  be  created.  In 
the  event  of  war  "there  would  be  no  considerable 


224  JEFFERSCXN  DAVIS 

diminution  in  the  production  of  the  staples  which  have 
constituted  our  exports,  and  in  which  the  commercial 
world  has  an  interest  scarcely  less  than  our  own." 
Upon  the  possibility  of  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Union  he  could  not  have  safely  spoken  in  that  pres 
ence  ;  but  he  let  it  be  clearly  seen  that,  in  his  opinion, 
such  a  thing  could  never  be,  and  that  if  coercion 
should  be  attempted,  "the  suffering  of  millions  will 
bear  testimony  to  the  folly  and  wickedness"  of  those 
who  inaugurate  the  policy.  He  closed  most  appro 
priately  : 

"It  is  joyous  in  the  midst  of  perilous  times  to  look 
around  upon  a  people  united  in  heart,  where  one  pur 
pose  of  high  resolve  animates  and  actuates  the  whole  ; 
where  the  sacrifices  to  be  made  are  not  weighed  in  the 
balance  against  honor  and  right  and  liberty  and 
equality.  Obstacles  may  retard,  but  they  cannot  long 
prevent  the  progress  of  a  movement  sanctified  by  its 
justice  and  sustained  by  a  virtuous  people.  Eever- 
ently  let  us  invoke  the  God  of  our  fathers  to  guide 
and  protect  us  in  our  efforts  to  perpetuate  the  princi 
ples  which  by  His  blessing  they  were  able  to  vindicate, 
establish,  and  transmit  to  their  posterity.  With  the 
continuance  of  His  favor,  ever  gratefully  acknowl 
edged,  we  may  hopefully  look  forward  to  success,  to 
peace,  and  to  prosperity."  l 

This  address  fitly  expressed  the  feelings  and  aspira 
tions  of  the  sober  second  thought  of  the  Southern 
people,  as  they  reviewed  the  work  of  their  representa 
tives  "in  Congress  assembled."  All  hearts  warmed 
to  the  resolute  and  high-minded  gentleman  whom  they 
had  elevated  to  the  place  of  responsible  leadership. 
lBiae  and  Fall,  Vol.  I,  pp.  232-236. 


FOEMATION  OF  THE  CONFEDEEACY    225 

Even  the  fiery  young  writers  for  the  Charleston  papers, 
for  once  in  their  lives,  felt  called  upon  to  be  pleased. 
Yancey  consoled  himself  with  the  assurance  that,  after 
all,  the  Confederacy  would  succeed,  and  supported  it 
warmly.  In  Virginia,  and  other  border  states,  there 
was  a  strong  yearning  for  this  virtuous  government 
which  had  been  formed  by  brethren  in  economic  and 
social  bonds.  Most  men  expected  the  new  nation  to 
move  on  for  centuries  in  the  path  just  marked  out  for 
it ;  none  expected  the  direful  future  which  lay  im 
mediately  ahead.  There  was,  nevertheless,  much 
underlying  regret  of  the  necessity  of  breaking  up  a 
great  nation,  a  fear  even  that  both  politicians  and 
people  might  have  gone  too  far. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  CONFEDERATE  ADMINISTRATION'S  POLICY 

AMERICAN  statecraft  has  departed  widely  from  the 
British  in  the  formation  of  cabinets.  In  England  the 
leader  of  a  successful  reform  or  revolution  is  called 
upon  by  the  monarch  to  take  charge  of  administrative 
affairs.  This  man  becomes  the  responsible  head  of  a 
new  cabinet  and  he  brings  to  his  assistance  in  the 
various  departments  his  ablest  co-workers  and  sympa 
thizers.  Unity  of  purpose  and  policy  ensues.  In  the 
United  States,  for  a  reason  which  cannot  be  explained 
here,  the  opposite  course  is  followed.  The  sovereign 
people  refuse  to  choose  for  their  President  the  leader 
of  a  successful  political  revolution ;  and  no  better 
illustrations  of  this  can  be  cited  than  the  defeat  of 
Seward  in  the  Chicago  convention  of  1860  and  the 
absolute  ignoring  of  Yancey  and  Rhett  in  the  Mont 
gomery  convention  of  1861.  Davis,  the  counselor  of 
delay,  the  semi-conservative  of  the  last  two  years,  was 
chosen  the  first  President  of  the  Confederacy.  He  was 
selected  because  the  opponents  of  secession  and  the 
conservative  Virginians  could  unite  upon  him.1 

When  Davis  came  to  choose  his  official  advisers,  he 
carried  further  the  rule  of  compromise.  Not  con 
tent  with  the  cooperation  of  the  conservatives  of  the 
radical  states  with  the  radicals  of  the  border  states, 
clearly  manifested  in  his  own  election  as  well  as  in 

1  Du  Bose,  Life  of  William  L.  Yancey,  p.  586. 


CONFEDEEAT^}  POLICY  227 


J 


that  olnStephens,  he  still  more  alienated  those  who 
had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  long  agitation  by  fill 


ing  the  hi^'h  positions  in  the  new  government  with 
men  who  ha^iJLQne^time^or  another  publicly  opposed 
secession,  some  of  whom^ihad  been  competitors  with 
himself  for  the  chief  position,  while  others  were  the 
open  personal  enemies  of  Ehett  and  Yancey.  Eobert 
Toombs,  disappointed  at  the  sudden  turn  of  things  on 
February  8th,  which  defeated  him  for  the  presidency, 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  State  Department; 
C.  G.  Mernminger,  a  lifelong  •  opponent  of  the  South 
Carolina  revolutionists,  took  the  Treasury  portfolio  ; 
L.  Pope  Walker,  from  the  Union  section  of  Alabama, 
was  made  Secretary  of  War  ;  Mallory,  strongly  op 
posed  in  his  own  state  —  Florida,  took  the  Navy  ; 
Benjamin,  of  decided  Whig  proclivities,  became  At 
torney-General  ;  and  Eeagan,  of  Texas,  another  con 
servative,  was  given  the  Post-  Office  Department.  The  \ 
purpose  of  these  appointments  was  evidently  the  com 
posing  of  differences  and  disagreements,  not  the  secur 
ing  of  harmony  in  administration  or  the  ablest  talent 
for  the  work  in  hand. 

The  justification  for  this  policy  in  the  mind  of  Davis 
consisted  in  the  belief  that  the  revolutionists,  who  had 
fought  hard  and  long  for  the  cause,  were  above  the 
lust  of  office  and  willing  to  retire,  allowing  their  op 
ponents  to  enjoy  the  emoluments  and  the  honors  of  re 
sponsible  administration.  The  same  idea  found  ex 
pression  in  the  appointment  of  the  commission  to  ne 
gotiate  with  the  Washington  government  for  the  recog 
nition  of  the  Confederacy.  It  was  composed  of  two 
anti  -secessionists  and  one  Breckinridge  man.  The 
single  exception  to  this  general  policy  was  the  ap- 


228  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

pointment  of  William  L.  Yancey,  Pierre  A.  Eost,  and 
A.  Dudley  Mann,  commissioners  to  Europe.  These 
had  all  been  ardent  Southern  rights  men,  firm  advo 
cates  of  secession  for  several  years.  Was  it  possible 
that  Davis  believed  their  ardent  zeal  and  naming  elo 
quence  would  prove  as  effective  in  breaking  down  the 
indifference  of  the  European  chancelleries  as  they  had 
been  in  '  *  firing  the  Southern  heart ' '  ?  Neither  Yan 
cey  nor  Eost  was  in  the  remotest  degree  fitted  for  the 
delicate  and  all-important  duties  of  Confederate 
diplomacy. 

While  these  backward  steps  were  being  taken  in 
Montgomery,  the  rivalry  between  North  and  South 
waxed  warmer  in  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Ten 
nessee.  The  Virginia  convention,  called  in  the  early 
winter  to  consider  the  grave  situation  of  the  country, 
had  only  thirty  secessionists  among  its  membership  ; 
an  election  in  North  Carolina  about  the  same  time 
went  against  the  radical  leaders  ;  and  Tennessee  was 
in  the  firm  grip  of  the  Unionists,  led  by  Andrew 
Johnson  and  " Parson"  Brownlow.  President  Lin 
coln,  like  Davis,  carried  the  deft  hand  of  compromise 
into  these  states,  offering  responsible  cabinet  positions 
to  such  men  as  John  A.  Gilmer,  of  North  Carolina,  and 
Eobert  E.  Scott,  of  Virginia.  Still,  the  powerful  in 
fluence  of  a  common  economic  interest  was  on  the  side 
of  the  Confederacy. 

In  the  vain  hope  of  composing  the  radical  differ 
ences  between  the  lower  South  and  the  Eepublicans, 
who  came  into  full  power  on  the  retirement  of  Davis 
and  his  followers,  the  famous  Peace  Convention  was 
brought  into  being  on  the  initiative  of  Virginia.  From 
February  4th,  till  near  the  close  of  the  month,  the 


THE  CONFEDEEATE  POLICY  229 

anxious  and  patriotic  members  of  this  extra-constitu 
tional  body  did  what  they  could  to  bring  the  Eepub- 
licans  to  a  recognition  of  the  chief  clauses  of  the  Crit- 
tenden  Compromise  which  Lincoln  had  caused  to  be 
defeated  in  the  committee  of  thirteen.  But  the  Presi 
dent-elect,  supported  now  by  the  "  stiff-  backed'7  leaders 
of  his  party  in  the  Northwest,  was  immovable.  Though 
the  convention  represented  a  majority  of  the  people 
of  the  country  and  a  still  greater  preponderance  of  the 
wealth  and  influence,  the  control  of  affairs  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  minorities  whose  interests  led 
in  opposite  directions.  Davis  could  not  have  yielded, 
even  though  the  Peace  Convention  had  succeeded  in 
moving  the  Washington  authorities.  Neither  could 
the  border  states  have  escaped  the  inevitable,  now  that 
the  Confederate  government  had  been  formally  organ 
ized.  The  only  choice  left  them  was  that  of  taking 
sides,  and  this  decision  could  not  be  postponed  beyond 
the  firing  of  the  first  gun  at  Fort  Sumter.  The  Peace 
Convention  adjourned  without  accomplishing  any 
thing. 

On  March  16th,  Yancey,  Eost  and  Mann  received 
their  instructions '  and  soon  thereafter  set  sail  for  Lon 
don.  These  instructions  betray  another  important  line 
of  Confederate  policy.  The  commissioners  were,  first, 
to  set  forth  the  unimpeachable  right  of  the  South  to  ; 
sever  its  connection  with  the  Union.  In  the  next 
place,  the  immense  importance  of  trade  with  the  Con 
federacy  was  to  be  emphasized.  The  maxim,  "  Buy 
where  you  can  buy  cheapest,  and  sell  where  you  can 
sell  dearest,"  was  to  be  openly  proclaimed.  The  cot- 
Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Confederacy,  Vol.  I, 
pp.  1-10. 


230  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

ton  trade  alone  was  estimated  to  be  worth  $600, 000,  - 
000  annually  to  Great  Britain.  This  would  be  cut  off, 
it  was  shrewdly  suggested,  in  case  war  was  permitted 
to  be  waged  against  the  cotton  states.  The  question 
of  slavery,  which  Davis  only  too  well  knew  to  be  a 
great  obstacle  to  recognition,  was  barely  mentioned, 
and  the  clause  of  the  Confederate  constitution  prohib 
iting  the  slave  trade,  was  accented.  But  there  was  no 
hint  that  emancipation  might  finally  become  a  feature 
of  Southern  policy. 

On  the  subject  of  advantageous  treaties,  a  dispute 
had  arisen  between  the  President  and  Ehett,  the  free 
trade  leader  in  the  Congress.  The  latter,  as  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  foreign  relations,  outlined  a 
treaty  which  Yancey  was  to  offer  to  Great  Britain. 
It  proposed  absolute  free  trade  between  the  two  coun 
tries  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  as  a  reward  for 
recognition.  This  was  not  unlike  the  scheme  which 
Franklin  was  instructed  to  press  in  Paris  in  1776.  But 
the  Confederate  Congress  was  not  ready  to  adopt 
Ehett' s  plan,  especially  since  the  President  did  not 
agree  to  it.  This  did  not  mean,  as  Yancey' s  and 
Ehett' s  followers  maintained,  that  Davis  was  unwilling 
to  make  such  a  concession,  but  that  he  thought  it  best 
to  leave  all  matters  of  this  nature  to  negotiation.  It 
must  be  remembered,  too,  that  a  majority  of  the  men 
in  the  Congress  were  in  favor  of  a  moderate  tariff. 

But  with  the  instructions  as  outlined  above,  Yancey 
had  ample  opportunity  to  enter  into  the  making  of 
treaties,  if  once  the  greater  question  of  recognition 
could  be  settled.  The  powers  of  Europe  knew  that 
the  warring  Confederacy  would  not  higgle  about  the 
terms  of  a  treaty  of  commerce.  England  was  irri- 


THE  CONFEDEEATE  POLICY  231 

tated  by  the  passage  of  the  Morrill  Tariff  Law  at  Wash 
ington.  Mr.  Gladstone  asserted  in  so  many  words  that 
the  United  States  had  long  squeezed  the  Southern 
orange  and  that  a  leading  motive  for  forcible  reunion 
was  just  this  advantage  of  a  protective  tariff  to  which 
the  South  contributed  immensely,  but  in  whose  benefits 
she  did  not  share.  France  was  hardly  less  interested 
in  this  side  of  the  controversy  ;  and  Germany,  though 
the  Confederacy,  much  to  her  undoing,  did  not  recog 
nize  the  fact,  was  decidedly  free  trade  in  opinion  and 
was  becoming  a  more  important  factor  daily.  It  is 
entirely  probable  that  President  Davis  did  not  esti 
mate  at  its  true  value  the  European  desire  for  free 
trade  ;  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  his  own  view  limited 
Yancey  in  negotiating  or  proposing  treaties  looking  to 
that  end  on  the  simple  condition  of  recognition. 

The  great  difficulty  lay  in  the  repugnance  of  Euro 
pean  opinion  to  African  slavery.  Even  the  suffering 
cotton  mill  operatives,  a  year  after  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  appreciated  this  hindrance  to  British  inter 
vention  on  behalf  of  the  South.  The  power  of  Cobden 
and  Bright  rested  as  much  on  their  sympathy  for  the 
lower  classes  as  upon  their  advocacy  of  free  trade,  and 
the  influence  of  these  two  noble  men,  thrown  into  the 
scale  of  the  high-tariff  North  at  the  crucial  moment, 
caused  the  failure  of  the  movement  for  Southern 
recognition.  Yancey,  the  apostle  of  slavery,  was 
among  the  first  to  perceive  what  a  chasm  there  was 
between  those  who  believed,  with  himself  and  Steph 
ens,  in  a  nation  based  on  human  slavery,  and  the 
liberal  doctrinaire  leaders  of  European  opinion.  He 
could  not  think  of  promising  emancipation  and  he 
would  not  have  done  it  had  he  been  so  empowered. 


232  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Besides  to  have  yielded  to  this  " fancy77  of  Europe 
would  have  removed  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  Confederate 
government.  Yet  even  this  was  to  be  offered  before 
the  final  collapse. 

It  was  foreseen,  as  already  said,  that  the  issue  of  the 
quarrel  about  Fort  Sumter  would  force  the  border 
states  to  take  sides ;  it  would  also  settle  the  question 
of  peace  or  war.  The  Confederate  commissioners, 
Eoman,  Crawford,  and  Forsyth,  appeared  in  Washing 
ton  in  the  early  days  of  March  and  received  a  hearty 
welcome  from  fashionable  society  there. '  They  found 
the  new  cabinet  as  much  divided  on  the  matter  of 
evacuating  Fort  Sumter  as  Buchanan's  had  been. 
Northern  public  sentiment,  instead  of  rallying  to  the 
" stiff- backed77  views  of  the  new  President,  was  still 
inclined  strongly  to  peace,  even  if  it  meant  final 
separation.  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  seemed  to  regret  his 
attitude  of  the  preceding  December ;  he  allowed 
Seward  to  think  that  Sumter  would  be  speedily  given 
up.  A  majority  of  the  cabinet  favored  such  a  solu 
tion  j  and  the  organ  of  the  administration,  the  National 
Republican,  announced  on  March  9th,  that  Anderson 
and  his  men  would  be  withdrawn.  This  was  doubtless 
intended  by  the  President  as  a  "  feeler.77  It  stirred 
the  Eepublicans  to  opposition,  while  the  Democrats 
rejoiced.  Lincoln  saw  how  sentiment  was  turning  and 
the  administration  veered  its  sails  again  to  the  pop 
ular  breeze.  Yet  he  himself  pretended  to  be  amazed 
when  General  Scott,  on  March  28th,  recommended 
evacuation. 

Meanwhile,  the  commissioners  had  found  an  in 
fluential  mouthpiece  in  the  able  and  patriotic  Justice 

1 W.  H.  Russell,  My  Diary,  North  and  South,  Vol.  I,  pp.  92-95. 


THE  CONFEDEKATE  POLICY  233 

Campbell  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Campbell  was  an 
Alabamiau  who,  in  the  hope  of  a  peaceful  issue  of  the 
crisis,  had  not  yet  resigned  his  commission  under  the 
United  States  government.  He  went  to  Seward  and 
received  the  assurance  that  Sumter  would  be  turned 
over  to  South  Carolina.  A  second  visit  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  when  the  suspicions  of  the  com 
missioners  had  been  aroused,  evoked  the  most  positive 
assertion  that  the  fort  would  be  yielded  to  South 
Carolina  before  a  letter  could  reach  Montgomery. 
However,  a  relief  expedition  had  been  ordered  and  it 
can  hardly  be  questioned  that  Seward  knew  this.  He 
deceived  both  Campbell  and  the  commissioners,  though 
Davis  denied  that  he  had  been  misled  or  that  he  had 
ever  expected  any  other  course  of  events. 

On  March  15th,  Seward  had  filed  in  the  State  De 
partment  a  memorandum  which  the  Confederate  agents 
were  informed  they  could  get  whenever  they  desired. 
When  it  became  clear  to  all  the  world  that  they  would 
not  be  received  in  any  capacity,  they  called  for  the 
paper.  It  was  a  formal  refusal  to  give  them  an  audi 
ence,  but  they  remained  in  Washington  watching 
events  until  the  fall  of  Sumter  closed  the  last  door  of 
negotiation. 

South  Carolina  was  of  course  a  part  of  the  ConX 
federacy  and  Davis  held  the  threads  of  the  situation) 
in  his  firm  grasp.     General  Beauregard,  a  brother-in- 
law  of  the  senior  Ehett  and  an  able  military  com 
mander,  had  been  given  immediate  oversight  of  Fort 
Sumter  and  the  surrounding  neighborhood.     The  South 
Carolinians  eagerly  awaited  the  arrival  of  reinforce 
ments  for  Major  Anderson,  who  was  reduced  by  this 
time  to  a  state  of  semi -starvation  ;  the  first  appearance 


234  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

of  an  armed  vessel  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  would 
be  a  signal  of  war.  Beauregard  asked  for  definite  in 
structions.  Davis  called  his  cabinet  together  on  April 
9th  and  placed  before  them  the  disappointing  infor 
mation  that  the  United  States  not  only  refused  to  give 
up  the  fort,  but  would  send  reinforcements  and  supplies 
forthwith.  The  decision  of  the  cabinet  was  that  the 
Confederate  commander  must  demand  the  surrender 
of  Anderson  and  his  men  before  the  arrival  of  the  ex 
pected  relief. 

At  this  meeting  Toombs  first  manifested  his  disposi 
tion  to  oppose  the  President.     He  declared  that  it 
would  be  folly  to  take  this  step,  since  it  would  "lose 
us  every  friend  in  the  North.     You  will  wantonly 
strike  a  hornet's  nest  which  extends  from  mountain  to 
ocean,  and  legions  now  quiet  will  swarm  out  and  sting 
.  us  to  death.     It  is  unnecessary  ;    it  puts  us  in  the 
/  wrong  ;  it  is  fatal."  1     He  failed  to  see  that  Davis 
I  could  not  listen  to  such  advice.     The  purpose  of  his 
\  office  was  the  defense  of  the  Confederate  states  at  every 
\  point.     He    authorized    Beauregard    to  attack    Fort 
Sumter  at  once,  unless  he  could  obtain  its  surrender 
by  negotiation.    Feeling  the  heavy  responsibility  of 
inaugurating  war,  the  Southern  general  gave  Major 
Anderson,  who  also  dreaded  the  outcome,  a  chance  to 
capitulate  without  bloodshed.     This  the  latter  could 
not  do  without  proving   untrue  to  his  government. 
At  2  o'clock  A.  M.  of  April  12,  1861,  the  order  to  sur 
render  was  sent.2    At  4:30  A.  M.  the  firing  began.     It 
continued  all  day  and  until   3  p.  M.  on   Saturday, 
April  13th.     Then  the  garrison  surrendered,  and  the 

1  Stovall,  Life  of  Toombs,  p.  226. 

2  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  I,  pp.  297-306. 


THE  CONFEDEBATE  POLICY  236 

first  scene  of  the  tragedy  was  over.  Had  it  been  pos 
sible  for  the  Confederacy  so  to  manoeuvre  as  to  force 
the  United  States  to  fire  the  opening  shot,  a  great 
tactical  advantage  would  have  been  gained.  Davis 
fully  appreciated  this  fact,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
he  could  have  procured  such  a  result  without  yielding 
to  the  enemy  the  first  point  in  the  war. 

The  leading  secessionists  of  the  border  states  were 
present  when  the  attack  on  the  fort  began.  Pryor  of 
Virginia  urged  in  most  dramatic  fashion  to  a  half-in 
toxicated  throng  of  Charlestonians,  that  the  first  shot 
on  Sumter  would  force  the  secession  of  Virginia.  He 
was  right.  The  Old  Dominion  only  waited  to  pass  her 
ordinance  of  secession,  until  the  call  came  from  Wash 
ington  on  April  15th,  to  send  her  quota  of  troops  to 
aid  in  the  suppression  of  insurrection.  North  Car 
olina,  Tennessee,  and  Arkansas  followed  suit.  The 
boundaries  of  the  Confederacy  expanded  from  the 
lower  borders  of  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee  to  the 
Potomac,  with  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri 
now  halting  between  the  two  governments.  The  ima,  . 
mediate  aim  of  Davis' s  conservative  plans  and  ap 
pointments  had  been  attained  ;  the  whole  South  would 
now  fight  together.  It  appeared  to  the  outsider  that' 
the  sacrifice  of  the  extremists  had  been  wise. 

The  easy  capture  of  Fort  Sumter  aroused  the  South 
as  few  peoples  have  ever  been  aroused.  The  long 
pent-up  wrath  of  these  discontented  states  burst  forth 
like  a  mountain  torrent,  fed  by  the  melting  snows  of 
many  winters.  Before  the  end  of  April,  19,000  men 
had  volunteered  to  defend  the  forts  of  the  Confederacy, 
and  16,000  were  on  the  road  to  Virginia.  The  propo 
sition  for  a  loan  of  five  million  dollars  was  immediately 


236  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

answered  by  subscriptions  to  the  amount  of  eight  mil 
lions,  every  bid  being  at  par  or  above.  And  as  the 
news  of  Lincoln's  call  for  75,000  volunteers  to  sup 
press  insurrection  spread  abroad,  the  Southern  people 
hurried  to  their  court-yards  and  drill-grounds  in  num 
bers  surpassing  all  immediate  need,  actually  embar 
rassing  the  administration.  An  army  of  100, 000  men 
was  at  once  provided  for  ;  Congress  was  called  to  meet 
in  extra  session  on  April  29th  5  and  a  proclamation 
was  issued,  offering  commissions  to  privateers  to  prey 
upon  the  commerce  of  the  United  States.1  Alexander 
Stephens  was  authorized  to  negotiate  with  Virginia  on 
the  subject  of  her  entrance  into  the  Confederacy,  and 
the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Richmond. 

With  an  accession  of  territory  which  doubled  the 
area  of  the  Confederacy  ;  a  response  of  the  financiers 
to  every  call,  which  kept  bonds  well  above  par ;  and 
with  the  whole  adult  male  population  clamoring  to  be 
led  to  the  front,  it  is  not  surprising  that  Davis  was 
elated,  or  that  his  Secretary  of  War,  in  a  speech  to  a 
hurrahing  crowd,  predicted  that  the  Confederate  gov 
ernment  would  occupy  the  city  of  Washington  by  May 
1st.  Davis,  considering  his  painstaking  efforts  to 
procure  the  adherence  of  the  border  states,  his  guarded 
conduct  and  conservative  policy,  felt  for  once  that 
the  cause  would  surely  triumph.  Even  his  enemies 
joined  in  the  chorus  of  praise.  The  Charleston  Mercury 
ceased  to  criticise  and  abuse  him  and  paid  the  follow 
ing  tardy  tribute:  "As  to  the  object  of  the  Presi 
dent's  hastening  to  Virginia,  we  are  convinced  that  it 
is  the  success  of  our  cause  which  has  attracted  him. 
His  presence  will  infuse  additional  life  and  vigor 
1  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  60, 


THE  CONFEDERATE  POLICY  237 

among  our  troops.  Finding  him  willing  to  run  any 
personal  risk,  they  will  emulate  his  example  and  defeat 
the  hordes  of  Abolitionists  Lincoln  has  arrayed  against 
us."  l 

With  the  almost  unanimous  good-will  of  the  lower 
South,  the  Confederate  government  moved  the  capital 
to  the  ancient  commonwealth  of  Virginia.  An  out 
pouring  of  loyal  sentiment  and  devotion  to  the  new 
cause  characterized  the  journey  of  two  days  from 
Montgomery  to  Eichmond.  Old  and  young  vol 
unteers  greeted  Davis  at  every  stop  ;  they  bought 
tickets  in  order  that  they  might  ride  on  the  same  train 
with  the  new  and  beloved  President.  Amidst  all  this 
adulation,  he  maintained  his  calm  and  quiet  dignity. 
He  traveled  in  the  simplest  style.  There  were  no 
sleepers,  no  special  cars,  no  extra  trains.  He  occupied 
a  seat  in  the  rear  coach  of  the  ordinary  train  and  con 
ducted  himself  so  unostentatiously  that  his  presence 
was  not  known  to  the  other  passengers  until  the  cries 
from  without  led  to  his  recognition. 

But  these  loyal  Southerners  manifested  their  devo 
tion  in  other  and  more  substantial  ways.  The  govern 
ment  recommended  that  the  usual  crop  of  cotton  should 
be  decreased,  and  corn  and  wheat  planted  instead  for 
the  support  of  the  armies.  Almost  every  one  heeded 
the  admonition.  There  was  rumor  of  a  scarcity  of 
saltpetre,  an  indispensable  constituent  of  gunpowder  : 
thousands  of  householders  began  to  dig  up  the  moist 
earth  under  their  houses  and  in  their  cellars,  from 
which  to  extract  the  precious  commodity.  Men  who 
had  never  known  how  to  be  generous  emptied  their 
pockets,  and  women  of  the  highest  social  standing 
1  Mercury,  May  30,  1861. 


238  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

worked    day    and    night    making    clothes    for    the 
soldiers. 

All  this  zeal  and  enthusiasm  did  not  cause  Davis  to 
lose  sight  of  the  aims  which  he  had  already  set  for 
himself  and  his  people.  In  the  border  states  as  in  the 
lower  South,  the  extreme  secessionists  were  clamoring 
for  an  attack  on  Washington ;  for  the  raising  of  the 
Confederate  flag  on  the  old  Capitol.  But  Eobert  E. 
Lee,  who  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  Virginia  troops, 
did  not  favor  such  a  venture.  A  conservative  by 
nature,  he  lent  great  force  to  the  conservative  policy 
of  the  new  President.  The  solid  and  substantial  ele- 

/  ment  of  the  Virginia  people  agreed  with  Davis  and 
/  {     feared  that  to  invade  the  North  would  put  the  South 

v  in  a  bad  light  before  the  world.  An  aggressive,  war 
like,  and  conquering  slave  state  would  repel  whatever 
friends  the  Confederacy  might  have  in  Europe;  it 
would  force  the  Democrats  of  the  North  to  join  the 
Republicans  in  support  of  the  administration  ;  and  it 
would  have  belied  the  oft-repeated  assertion  of  the 
•  South  that  she  only  desired  to  be  let  alone. 

The  long  line  of  defense  stretched  from  the  Chesa 
peake  Bay  through  middle  Kentucky  to  the  upper 
corner  of  Kansas,  a  distance  of  fifteen  hundred  miles. 
The  crossing  of  this  line  was  to  be  the  signal  of  attack. 
To  defend  this  frontier,  and  in  support  of  the  positions 
already  taken  by  the  border  state  military  leaders, 
there  were  360,000  to  400,000  available  men,  most  of 
whom  were  still  at  their  homes  or  on  the  drill- grounds 
of  the  various  states.1 

The  organization  of  such  a  force  in  the  face  of  an 

• 

1  General  John  B.  Gordon's  Reminiscences,  p.  17 ;  and  Davis's 
message  to  Congress  on  July  20,  1861. 


THE  COKFEDEEATE  POLICY  239 

enemy  even  more  numerous  was  a  large  undertaking  ; 
and  the  difficulty  was  heightened  by  the  desire  of 
each  state  to  have  its  quota  of  field  officers.  Eegi- 
mental  officers  were  appointed  by  the  states,  while  the 
captains  and  lieutenants  were  chosen  by  the  private 
soldiers.  Davis  recognized  the  weakness  of  this 
system,  but  he  did  not  seek  to  interfere  with  any 
of  these  established  customs  of  the  country.  In  the 
appointment  of  generals  of  high  station,  he  en 
deavored  to  do  away  with  the  rule,  which  had  ap 
plied  in  the  United  States  Army  since  its  organization, 
of  allowing,  under  all  circumstances,  seniority  to 
determine  rank.  He  knew  well  the  officers  of  the  old 
army,  and  he  was  convinced  that  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston  was  the  ablest  of  those  who  had  joined  the 
Confederacy.  Others  who  gave  up  their  commands 
to  "go  with  their  states"  into  secession,  and  who 
were  naturally  looked  to  as  prospective  leaders  of 
the  Southern  Army,  were  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and 
Eobert  E.  Lee  of  Virginia,  and  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard 
of  Louisiana.  All  of  these  men,  except  Lee,  seem 
to  have  been  jealous  of  their  rivals  and  personally 
hopeful  of  receiving  the  first  place.  It  was  no  easy 
task  for  the  President  to  fill  the  high  offices  according 
to  the  rule  of  merit  without  offense  to  some  of  these 
able  volunteers.  To  add  to  his  perplexities,  he  was\ 
too  sensitive  on  the  subject  of  his  own  prerogative  and,  \ 
even  as  early  as  the  summer  of  1861,  he  manifested  a 
disposition  to  advance  his  personal  friends,  especially  / 
the  members  of  his  class  at  West  Point  and  others  ,' 
whom  he  had  known  there. 

Favoritism  was  inherent  in  the  Southern  system.  \ 
Aristocracy  was  acknowledged  in  every  way  but  on 


240  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

the  statute  books.  The  great  South  Carolina  families 
expected  to  receive  high  stations  and  special  rewards  ; 
the  "first  families"  of  Virginia  could  not  be  neg 
lected  j  and  the  large  slave  proprietors  demanded  in 
thousands  of  cases  special  exemption  from  military 
service  in  the  open  field.  The  majority  of  the  popula 
tion  of  military  age,  however,  were  willing  and  anxious 
to  meet  the  enemy  j  in  fact,  so  impatient  were  they  to 
begin  the  fight,  that  they  could  not  be  induced  to  see 
the  value  of  thorough  drill  and  complete  subordina 
tion  to  discipline.  Every  man  thought  himself  a 
leader  and  none  loved  restraint,  especially  those  who 
were  the  masters  of  slaves.  Under  these  circum 
stances  and  with  the  country  absolutely  certain  that 
success  had  already  been  won  ;  with  officers  clamoring 
for  precedence,  and  politicians  wrangling  for  their  pet 
schemes ;  with  insufficient  means  of  transporting 
armies  over  great  distances,  and  he  himself  beset  by 
his  own  preferences  and  favoritisms,  it  was  indeed  a 
difficult  thing  for  President  Davis  to  will,  to  see,  and 
to  do  the  right  thing. 


CHAPTEE  XY 

MANASSAS 

DAYIS  reached  Bichmond  in  the  early  morning  of 
May  29th,  and  was  received  with  a  salute  of  fifteen 
guns.  A  carriage  drawn  by  four  horses  took  him  to 
the  Spotswood  Hotel,  where  handsome  apartments  had 
been  fitted  up.  The  city  was  in  gala  attire  and  re 
ceived  its  l '  first  and  only  President ' '  with  every  mark 
of  delight.  The  famous  old  hostelry  stood  at  the 
corner  of  Eighth  and  Main  Streets  and,  up  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  was  one  of  the  most  important  land 
marks  of  the  place.  Doorways,  halls,  and  windows 
were  decorated  with  Confederate  colors,  and  the 
President's  apartments  were  draped  with  the  flags  of 
his  new  government,  though  the  reader  may  pause  to 
remember  that  Davis  was  so  attached  to  the  "old 
flag"  that  he  had  recommended  its  adoption  by  the 
South,  making  changes  only  in  the  one  used  in  battle. 
Having  reached  his  temporary  quarters,  he  bade  an 
appropriate  adieu  to  his  escort  of  thousands  who  filled 
the  streets  and  waved  handkerchiefs  from  the  windows 
of  the  houses  in  the  neighborhood.  He  spoke  words 
of  encouragement  without  threats  against  the  enemy 
and  received  the  heartiest  applause. 

The  permanent  home  of  the  Confederate  President 
had  been  selected  and  was  now  undergoing  repairs.  It 
stood,  and  still  stands,  at  Twelfth  and  Clay  Streets,  a 
beautiful  location  in  what  was  then  the  equivalent 


242  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

of  the  "West  End";  it  had  long  been  the 
home  of  the  Brockenborough  family  and  was  one  of 
the  handsomest  private  residences  in  the  city.  It  was 
entirely  worthy  to  become  the  White  House  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  the  sympathetic  tourist  of  to-day 
who  lingers  there  is  irresistibly  drawn  to  the  stirring 
times  when  Lee,  Johnston,  Longstreet,  and  the  Hills 
called  it  the  "Executive  Mansion  "  and  planned,  within 
its  stately  walls,  the  campaigns  of  Manassas,  Seven 
Pines  and  Gettysburg.1 

The  life  of  Davis  now  merges  to  a  considerable  ex 
tent  with  that  of  Eobert  E.  Lee,  his  schoolmate  at 
West  Point,  and  friend  of  the  years  just  preceding  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  Lee  was  one  of  the  conscien 
tious,  sober,  and  thoughtful  officers  of  the  "  old  army" 
who  lamented  in  April,  1861,  the  oncoming  "revolu 
tion"  as  unnecessary,2  but  who  felt  within  him  the 
force  of  state  loyalty  so  deeply  that  he  could  not 
continue  in  the  national  service,  even  though  the 
dazzling  honor  of  the  chief  command  was  tendered  to 
him.  There  is  no  stronger  tribute  to  the  cause  of 
secession  as  a  righteous  and  just  one  than  this  decision 
of  Lee  ;  for  his  family,  unlike  most  others  in  Virginia, 
had  long  been  stanchly  attached  to  the  Union.3  His 
home  came  down  to  him  from  Washington  himself ; 
his  father  had  been  a  Federalist  leader  and  had  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  a  states'  rights  mob  in  Baltimore  in 

xlt  is  now  the  home  of  the  Confederate  Memorial  Association 
and  as  the  Confederate  Museum  contains  many  valuable  papers 
and  relics  of  the  Civil  War. 

2  Letters  and  Recollections  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  by  his  son,  p.  26. 

3  See  a  most  interesting  discussion  of  Lee's  relations  to  the  Con 
federacy  by  Charles  Francis  Adams — Constitutional  Ethics  of  Seces 
sion,  1903,  a  pamphlet. 


MASTASSAS  243 

1819,  shortly  before  his  death  j  while  he  himself  had 
been  engaged  in  the  national  service  for  thirty-five 
years  and  had  won  distinguished  honors  under  the  flag 
of  the  Union.  Against  the  wishes  of  his  personal 
friend,  General  Scott,  and  the  entreaties  of  a  favorite 
sister,  and  knowing  that  his  handsome  family  estate, 
"Arlington/7  would  be  confiscated,  he,  nevertheless, 
set  his  pace  toward  Richmond  when  the  irrevocable 
step  had  been  taken.  His  sacrifices  were  appreciated. 
The  convention  offered  him  the  sword  of  Virginia  and 
he  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  state  Council  of  War. 

Before  the  Confederate  President  took  up  his  resi 
dence  in  Richmond,  he  had  ordered  eight  regiments  to 
move  as  fast  as  possible  to  Lynchburg,  from  which 
point  they  were  to  cooperate  with  the  Virginia  troops 
wherever  they  would  be  of  the  most  service.  General 
Lee  had  control  of  the  local  forces  and  had  raised 
small  volunteer  armies  at  Hampton,  Norfolk,  Freder- 
icksburg,  Culpeper,  Winchester,  and  in  West  Vir 
ginia.  There  were  probably  30,000  of  these  troops, 
inexperienced,  of  course,  poorly  armed,  and  unaccus 
tomed  to  discipline.  Lee's  chief  assistants  were  Briga 
dier-General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  who,  as  we  shall  see, 
rather  strangely  held  command  under  the  Confederate 
authority,  while  at  the  same  time  operating  in  Vir 
ginia  under  Lee,  and  having  the  direction  of  the  forces 
about  Harper's  Ferry  ;  Brigadier- General  Beauregard, 
who  had  brought  some  6,000  South  Carolinians  via 
Lynchburg  to  the  defense  of  the  common  frontier ;  and 
the  state  Brigadiers  John  B.  Magruder,  Hampton  ; 
Philipp  St.  George  Cocke,  T.  H.  Holmes,  and  R.  S. 
Garnett. 

The  deplorable  weakness  of  the  military  situation  in 


244  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Virginia  was  the  distance  between  the  points  of  attack 
and  the  entirely  inadequate  supply  of  wagons  and 
horses  for  the  movement  of  the  impedimenta  of  war. 
The  state  was  threatened  by  way  of  the  peninsula  from 
Fortress  Monroe  as  a  base  ;  at  Mauassas  from  Alex 
andria,  already  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  ;  at  Harper's 
Ferry  ;  and  in  West  Virginia.  Each  of  these  points 
was  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away  from 
the  others  and  there  were  no  direct  railway  connec 
tions  and  no  good  country  roads,  except  one  or  two  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley  and  the  upper  counties.  The 
need  for  wagons,  horses,  and  drivers  was  imperative. 
Ammunition  and  other  necessary  supplies  were  de 
ficient.  Yet  Virginia  was  looked  to  for  aid  in  Balti 
more  where  the  first  outbreak  had  occurred  and  Davis 
had  telegraphed  Governor  Letcher,  as  early  as 
April  22d,  to  reinforce  the  Southern  party  there  if 
possible.  Missouri  had  also  sent  to  Eichmoud  for  arms 
to  aid  them  in  their  fight  against  the  Union  party  in 
that  state. 

While  these  events  had  been  taking  place,  President 
Lincoln  had  ordered  a  strict  blockade  of  all  Southern 
ports,  increased  the  navy  by  18,000  men,  raised  the 
regular  army  of  the  United  States  to  42,000,  and  sus 
pended  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  along  the  roads  lead 
ing  from  Washington  to  New  York.  On  April  24th 
Alexandria  was  occupied  and  about  the  same  time  the 
region  around  Fortress  Monroe  was  seized,  and  in  some 
instances  houses  were  burned  and  stores  of  provisions 
destroyed.  General  McDowell  was  steadily  increasing 
his  army,  with  headquarters  at  Arlington  Heights — 
Lee's  home;  General  Patterson  threatened  Harper's 
Ferry  with  twenty  thousand  men  ;  and  Major  Ander- 


MANASSAS  245 

son  was  raising  troops  in  Kentucky  and  West  Vir 
ginia  who  were  a  little  later  to  aid  General  McClellan 
in  the  conquest  of  northwestern  Virginia.  More  than 
100,000  soldiers,  including  volunteers,  had  been  put  in 
motion  by  the  North  when  Davis  reached  his  capital. 
The  armies  of  the  South  were  equally  numerous  but 
not  so  well  trained,  though  five  or  six  thousand  South 
Carolinians  had  been  drilling  since  early  in  the  previous 
winter.  The  nucleus  of  20,000  regulars  of  the  old 
standing  army  served  the  Union  to  good  purpose, 
though  this  number  was  somewhat  lessened  by  the  loss 
of  many  capable  officers  who  followed  their  states  into 
the  Confederate  camp. 

This  war  against  the  "  Yankees "  was  no  longer  a 
" holiday  excursion'7  ;  as  Davis  had  insisted  from 
the  beginning,  it  promised  now  to  be  a  tedious  and 
15loody  struggle.  He  set  about  his  work  of  organizing 
and  drilling  the  new  recruits  as  they  hurried  on  from 
the  South.  The  present  West  End  of  Eichmond,  the 
"Fair  Grounds  "  and  the  Grove  Avenue  neighborhood 
became  the  Southern  Champs  de  Mars;  there  the  ex- 
West  Pointers,  Virginia  Military  Institute  cadets — 
the  drill  sergeants  of  the  South— reigned  supreme. 
Squad  drill,  company  drill,  skirmish  line  and  order  of 
battle  were  given  from  morning  till  night,  much  to  the 
sorrow  of  the  unwarlike  recruits  panting  for  a  fight 
and  impatient  of  this  painful  preparation  to  meet  an 
enemy  who  would  surely  "  run  away  at  the  first  onset." 
Davis  and  Lee  took  hearty  interest  in  these  details  of 
war  and  rode  out  daily  to  see  the  work  well  done. 
They  also  entered,  with  the  utmost  harmony,  into  the 
larger  plans  to  repel  the  enemy  already  on  the  i  l  sacred 
soil  of  Virginia. " 


246  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

General  Beauregard  had  been  strengthened  at  Manas- 
sas  until  he  commanded  a  force  of  some  20,000  ;  Ma- 
gruder  was  fairly  safe  at  Hampton  and  Norfolk ;  but 
Johnston  was  in  danger  at  Harper's  Ferry.  Before 
June  15th,  the  first  crisis  of  the  war  was  at  hand,  and 
Manassas  was  the  point  of  danger.  General  McDowell 
with  an  army  of  30,000  clamoring  to  be  led  against 
the  enemy  and  urged  "on  to  Eichmond"  by  Northern 
public  opinion,  threatened  Beauregard.  The  latter 
was  extremely  uneasy,  being  almost  entirely  unsup- 
plied  with  wagons,  so  needful  in  the  event  of  retreat. 
Davis  ordered  him  to  hold  his  ground  and  Beauregard 
asked  for  reinforcements  from  Johnston,  who  was, 
however,  almost  as  closely  pressed  as  he.  The  Presi 
dent,  relying  on  the  fine  judgment  of  Lee,  held  back 
Johnston  until  McDowell  had  moved  too  far  into  Vir 
ginia  to  withdraw  without  danger.  He  then  ordered 
Johnston  to  come  to  the  relief  of  Beauregard  just  in 
time  to  give  the  South  a  fair  chance  to  gain  a  victory. 
On  July  21st,  the  two  raw  and  unseasoned  armies  came 
to  blows  on  Manassas  plains  ;  after  some  hours  of 
doubtful  contest,  Beauregard  and  Johnston,  chiefly  on 
account  of  the  unexpected  bravery  of  Jackson  and  his 
corps,  saw  the  tide  turn  in  their  favor.  McDowell's 
men,  panic-stricken,  threw  down  their  arms,  their 
knapsacks,  even  their  coats,  in  the  eager  and  senseless 
flight  to  Washington.  A  momentous  victory  had  been 
gained  by  the  young  republic  ;  the  North  had  lost  a 
battle  which  well-nigh  brought  the  recognition  of  her 
enemy,  until  now  held  in  the  utmost  contempt.  The 
losses  in  men  on  the  Union  side  were  2, 896  j  on  the 
Confederate  1,897.'  In  the  all-important  matter  of 
Rhodes,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  450. 


MANASSAS  247 

military  supplies,  the  victors  were  fortunate  indeed : 
they  carried  away  twenty- eight  pieces  of  artillery, 
5,000  muskets,  500,000  cartridges,  sixty-four  artillery 
horses,  twenty-six  wagons,  with  camp  equipage  and 
other  valuable  property.  The  most  urgent  wants  of 
Beauregard's  army  were  now  at  last  partially  supplied. 

Davis  had  intended  to  appear  on  the  anticipated 
field  of  battle  two  or  three  days  before  the  fight  began ; 
but  the  needs  of  the  army  were  so  great  and  the  regu 
lar  duties  of  his  office  so  pressing  that  he  was  compelled 
to  remain  in  Eichmond.  Since  the  whole  work  of 
the  Confederacy  was  to  conduct  the  war,  the  President 
very  properly  threw  himself  into  the  details  of  the 
War  Department  as  completely  as  if  he  himself  had 
been  the  Secretary  of  it.  Every  telegram,  every  im 
portant  order  for  supplies  or  reinforcements,  or  the 
movement  of  troops  in  the  field  passed  through  his 
hands.  Yet  during  this  very  period  his  harassing 
malady  came  upon  him  again,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  conduct  this  business  from  a  sick-bed.  The  council 
in  which  the  plan  of  Manassas  was  decided  upon  was 
held  in  his  bedroom.1 

Notwithstanding  this,  Davis  hastened  to  the  battle 
field  on  July  21st,  and  reached  headquarters  in  time  to 
witness  the  retreat  of  the  enemy.  He  held  conferences 
with  all  the  generals,  discussed  the  feasibility  of  a 
prompt  pursuit,  and  gave  directions  as  to  the  posi 
tion  of  the  wounded  and  prisoners.  He  saw  the  im 
portance  of  an  immediate  march  to  Washington  and 
wrote  out  a  tentative  order  to  General  Bonham  of  Vir 
ginia  to  make  his  forces  ready  for  the  movement. 
But  on  learning  that  his  reports  concerning  the  condi- 
1  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  II,  p.  610. 


248  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

tiou  of  the  enemy  were  unreliable,  lie  decided,  Gener 
als  Johnston  and  Beauregard  concurring,  to  leave  this 
matter  open  for  the  night.  Next  day  a  heavy  rain  fell 
and  the  roads  were  rendered  impassable  for  an  army. 

Davis  was  elated  at  the  results  of  the  first  great  en 
counter  j  on  the  night  of  the  21st,  he  telegraphed 
Congress,  which  had  just  assembled,  that  an  important 
victory  had  been  won,  immense  stores  captured,  and 
the  enemy  driven  from  the  soil  of  Virginia.  When  he 
returned  to  Eichmond  on  Tuesday,  July  23d,  he  said 
in  a  short  speech  to  the  people  at  the  railway  station, 
who  called  loudly  for  him  :  "I  rejoice  with  you,  this 
evening,  in  those  better  and  happier  feelings  which  we 
all  experience,  as  compared  with  the  anxiety  of  three 
days  ago.  .  .  .  Your  little  army  has  met  the  grand 
army  of  the  enemy,  routed  it  at  every  point,  and  it 
now  flies,  in  inglorious  retreat,  before  our  victorious 
columns.  We  have  taught  them  a  lesson  in  their  in 
vasion  of  the  sacred  soil  of  Virginia  ;  we  have  taught 
them  that  the  grand  old  mother  of  Washington  still 
nurtures  a  band  of  heroes  ;  and  yet  a  bloodier  and  far 
more  fatal  lesson  awaits  them,  unless  they  speedily  ac 
knowledge  that  freedom  to  which  you  were  born."  l 

Throughout  the  South  the  people  indulged  in  the 
confident  belief  that  the  war  would  be  short ;  that  there 
was  no  doubt  about  the  outcome ;  that  short  terms 
of  enlistment  were  sufficient  to  replenish  the  armies 
already  in  the  field.  The  President  reviewed  in  his 
message  to  Congress  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  the  events 
of  the  last  two  months,  calling  attention  to  the  steady 
extension  of  the  area  of  hostilities  and  of  the  plans  of 
the  United  States.  The  Federal  Congress,  in  the  early 

p.  306. 


MANASSAS  249 

days  of  July,  had  authorized  the  enlistment  of  500,000 
men  and  provided  an  increased  income  of  nearly 
$300,000,000  per  annum.  To  meet  these  gigantic 
preparations,  the  Confederate  Executive  urged  an 
equivalent  increase  in  the  Southern  armies.  Two 
days  later  came  the  news  of  the  great  victory  and  the 
Congress  at  Eichmond  relaxed  its  energies.  Davis  and 
his  advisers,  while  they  did  not  for  a  moment 
think  the  work  ended,  seem  to  have  felt  secure. 
No  recommendation  to  enlist  "for  the  war"  was 
urged,  and  the  preparation  to  meet  the  demands  of 
the  Treasury  for  a  series  of  years  was  sadly  defi 
cient.  Indeed,  it  was  confidently  thought  that  the 
value  of  the  cotton  crop,  though  this  was  decidedly 
decreased,  would  be  equal  to  the  burdens  of  the 
contest. 

The  wave  of  warlike  enthusiasm  which  had  followed 
the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  and  the  secession  of  Virginia, 
reached  the  cabinet  about  the  time  of  the  removal  to 
Eichmond.  Walker  gave  up  the  War  Department 
before  the  end  of  the  summer  for  a  command  in  the 
field,  and  Toombs,  daily  growing  more  displeased  with 
his  chief,  asked  for  a  place  in  the  army.  Benjamin 
succeeded  to  Walker's  place  and  a  little  later  E.  M.  T. 
Hunter  was  made  Secretary  of  State.  Yancey  becom 
ing  at  the  same  time  dissatisfied  with  the  outlook  in 
London,  had  given  up  his  European  mission  and  ran 
the  blockade  into  New  Orleans.  His  position  was 
filled  by  James  M.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  a  cousin  of 
Eobert  E.  Lee.  Slidell,  the  arch-intriguer  of  the 
South,  was  deemed  a  fit  appointee  for  the  court  of 
Louis  Napoleon. 

The  next  most  difficult  and  trying  task  of  this  sum- 


250  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

mer  for  the  President  was  the  appointment  of  the 
chief  generals  of  the  army.  There  was  a  group  of  able 
and  ambitious  men,  all  West  Point  graduates,  from 
which  he  could  choose ;  and  most  of  these  he  knew 
well  personally.  Two,  Samuel  Cooper  and  Albert 
Sidney  Johnston,  had  been  friends  of  his  for  many 
years.  The  oldest  of  them  all  was  Cooper,  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  United  States  Army,  who  had  re 
signed  to  take  service  with  the  Confederacy  soon 
after  its  organization  in  Montgomery.  He  was  also  a 
cousin  of  Eobert  E.  Lee  and  a  grandson  of  George 
Mason. 

The  second  oldest  candidate  for  the  chief  command  in 
the  new  army  was  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  of  Kentucky. 
Having  graduated  two  years  ahead  of  Davis  at  West 
Point,  he  entered  the  regular  army  in  1826  ;  after  a  term 
of  eight  years  on  the  western  frontier,  he  resigned  his 
commission  and  migrated  to  Texas,  where  he  took  the 
remarkable  step  of  enlisting  as  a  private  soldier  in  that 
state's  war  for  independence  from  Mexico.  Rising 
rapidly  to  the  highest  position  in  the  Texan  army,  he 
had  an  active  part  in  the  organization  of  the  1 1  Lone 
Star  Republic. ' '  On  the  outbreak  of  the  conflict  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  he  raised  a  regi 
ment  and  led  it  to  the  front,  where  he  repeatedly  dis 
tinguished  himself.  In  1849  he  became  a  paymaster  in 
the  United  States  Army  ;  and  in  1855  Jefferson  Davis, 
at  that  time  Secretary  of  War,  gave  him  command  of 
one  of  the  new  regiments  of  cavalry  then  being  organ 
ized.  From  1855  to  1861  he  served  in  the  Southwest  and 
rose  to  the  head  of  the  Department  of  the  Pacific,  hav 
ing  been  in  California  when  hostilities  broke  out  in  the 
South.  He  resigned  promptly  and  began  his  famous 


MANASSAS  251 

overland  horseback  ride,  chased  by  the  authorities  of 
the  United  States,  via  New  Orleans  to  Eichmond.  He 
was  known  to  be  on  the  way  to  the  Confederate  capital, 
when  the  President  was  making  out  his  list  of  ap 
pointments. 

Eobert  E.  Lee  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1829  as 
second  in  the  class  of  which  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  a 
promising  member.  Lee  won  signal  honors  in  the 
war  with  Mexico,  was  superintendent  of  the  Military 
Academy  from  1852  to  1855  when  Davis  appointed  him 
second  in  command  of  the  cavalry  regiment  of  which 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston  was  the  chief.  This  troop  of 
horse  was  kept  busy  on  the  Texan  border  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  great  war.  While  on  furlough  in  the 
autumn  of  1858,  Lee  was  sent  by  the  United  States 
government  to  suppress  the  John  Brown  raid,  which 
he  did  with  much  discretion,  thus  bringing  his  name 
prominently  before  the  nation. 

The  second  member  of  this  class  of  1829  who  had 
risen  to  high  rank  before  the  beginning  of  the  war  was 
Lee's  classmate,  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  He  had  been  in 
the  active  service  of  the  country  on  the  frontier  until 
the  beginning  of  the  Mexican  War  when  he,  too,  had 
an  opportunity  to  show  his  great  ability.  He  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  brevet- colonel  for  gallantry  at 
Cerro  Gordo ;  in  1855  he  was  appointed  second  in 
command  of  the  First  Cavalry  by  order  of  Jefferson 
Davis ;  and  he  accompanied  Albert  Sidney  Johnston 
on  the  expedition  to  Utah  in  1859  as  inspector-general. 
In  1860  General  Scott  was  asked  to  recommend  a  suit 
able  officer  for  promotion  to  the  position  of  quarter 
master-general.  He  sent  in  the  names  of  Joseph  E. 
Johnston,  Eobert  E.  Lee,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston, 


252  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

and  G.  F.  Smith.  Joseph  E.  Johnston  received  the 
coveted  honor. 

Thus  had  these  young  friends  and  classmates  from 
Virginia  run  parallel  courses  for  many  years.  Lee  had 
stood  higher  in  the  Military  Academy  ;  but  Joseph  E. 
Johnston  rose  faster  in  the  army  and  reached  the  rank 
of  colonel  a  few  weeks  before  Lee.  Both  received  ad 
vancement  under  Secretary  of  War  Davis  in  1855, 
and  their  relative  positions  remained  the  same.  But 
Johnston  became  a  brigadier-general  first,  simply 
because  his  name  stood  above  Lee's  on  General  Scott's 
list  of  recommendations.  The  wheel  turned  once  more  : 
when  both  Lee  and  Johnston  resigned  to  take  service 
under  Virginia  in  April,  1861,  the  former  was  given 
the  higher  command — the  chief  direction  of  all  the 
forces  of  the  state.  Johnston  was  appointed  a  general, 
but  he  did  not  at  once  enter  service  under  his  success 
ful  rival.  Receiving  a  telegram  from  Montgomery 
offering  him.  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Valley 
of  Virginia,  he  promptly  accepted.  The  issue  of  this 
long  and  friendly  contest  between  able  and  aspiring 
men  was  not  yet  adjusted  ;  for  it  was  not  decided 
whether  Lee  as  the  head  of  the  Virginia  forces  was  to 
give  orders  to  Johnston  of  the  Confederacy  or  vice 
versa.  Lee  was  chary  about  issuing  instructions  to  his 
subordinate,  and  Johnston  before  the  battle  of  Manas- 
sas  resented  u orders,"  saying  that  he  himself  was 
the  ranking  general.1  A  nice  question  of  states' 
rights  vs.  Confederate  authority  was  thus  presented 
for  settlement. 

The  fifth  and  last  of  these  promising  West  Pointers 
whom  Davis  was  expected  to  promote  to  high  place, 
1  Memoir,  Vol.  II,  p.  139;  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  II,  p.  960. 


MANASSAS  253 

in  the  Southern  army,  was  Pierre  G.  T.  Beauregard  of 
Louisiana,  an  engineer  of  distinction  in  the  Mexican 
War,  a  connection  of  the  Ehetts  of  South  Carolina,  and 
the  first  popular  hero  on  account  of  his  reduction  of 
Fort  Suinter.  Up  to  Manassas  he  was  proclaimed  the 
great  general  of  the  war  and  that  battle  had  not 
dimmed  any  of  his  laurels. 

The  Confederate  President  was  fortunate  in  having 
so  many  able  soldiers  at  his  command  ;  but  to  one  who 
so  keenly  appreciated  all  the  points  of  the  rivalry  in 
volved,  it  was  no  easy  thing  to  decide  which  of  the 
Johnstons  should  receive  the  higher  station  or  whether 
Lee  should  not  outrank  both.  Lee  was  probably  more 
popular  in  the  border  states  than  any  other  and  he  was 
the  favorite  of  the  great  state  of  Virginia,  though 
Joseph  E.  Johnston  stood  almost  as  well.  But  Davis 
loved  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  as  a  brother,  their 
friendship  dating  from  the  old  Transylvania  days. 
They  had  fought  together  under  Taylor  at  Monterey, 
while  Lee  and  Joseph  E.  Johnston  had  stood  side  by 
side  under  Scott  at  Cerro  Gordo.  With  Lee  there  had 
been  an  intimacy  since  1851  when  Davis  recommended 
him  to  the  revolutionists  of  Cuba  as  comniander-m- 
chief  of  their  army,1  which  dangerous  and  questionable 
position  the  Virginian  declined.  He  did  not  lose  any 
ground  with  Davis  while  the  latter  was  Secretary  of 
War  at  Washington,  and  later  was  a  frequent  visitor 
at  the  house  of  the  distinguished  senator  from  Missis 
sippi.  Toward  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  Davis7  s  relations 
had  been  almost  as  close,  and  after  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  now  at  hand,  they  had  steadily  grown  inti 
mate.  All  these  brilliant  commanders  had  the  utmost 
Rhodes,  Vol.  I,  p.  217. 


\ 


254  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

respect  for  the  Confederate  President,  whom  they  asso 
ciated  with  the  important  events  in  their  own  lives 
and  whose  ability  they  greatly  admired. 

Weighing  the  cases  carefully  and  long,  Joseph  E. 
Johnston  having  already  begun  to  complain  of  his 
wrongs,  the  President  sent,  on  August  31st,  his  list  of 
recommendations  to  Congress  for  approval.  The  rank 
of  each  was  indicated  in  the  order  of  the  names 
as  follows :  Samuel  Cooper,  Albert  Sidney  Johns 
ton,  Eobert  E.  Lee,  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  and  P.  G.  T. 
Beauregard.  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and  Beauregard  at 
once  allowed  signs  of  their  disappointment  to  appear 
in  the  newspapers  and  one  of  the  most  acrimonious, 
as  well  as  most  fateful  of  all  Southern  controversies 
arose. 

Albert  Sidney  Johnston  was  assigned  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  Department  of  Kentucky,  including  what 
ever  Confederate  forces  might  be  raised  in  Missouri. 
Lee  took  the  dangerous  and  difficult  field  of  West  Vir 
ginia  at  a  time  when  Joseph  E.  Johnston's  friends 
were  beginning  to  call  him  the  "  dress  parade  and 
parlor  general'7 — a  slur  on  his  position  as  adviser  to 
the  President.  Joseph  E.  Johnston  remained  at 
Mauassas  in  charge  of  the  main  army  of  the  Confeder 
acy  ;  and  Beauregard  cooperated  for  the  time  with 
Johnston,  with  headquarters  at  Centreville.  Cooper 
was  appointed  adjutant  and  inspector-general  of  all 
the  Confederate  armies. 

In  the  organization  of  the  army  as  in  the  appoint 
ment  of  officers,  Davis  steadfastly  pursued  the  policy 
of  employing  experts  rather  than  popular  political 
leaders  or  orators.  This  he  did  while  President  Lin 
coln  was  following  the  opposite  course :  witness  B.  F. 


MANASSAS  255 

Butler  and  John  C.  Fremont  as  early  commanders  of 
Federal  armies.  There  was  nevertheless  a  decided  and 
foolish  opposition  in  the  South  to  the  employment  of 
"  West  Pointers'7  in  so  many  of  the  responsible  posi 
tions.  Men  of  influence  in  all  the  states  felt  that 
"  distinguished  "  civilians  would  lead  an  army  better 
than  the  "  scientific  plodders"  of  the  United  States 
Military  Academy.  " General"  Toombs  was  a  type 
of  these  political  commanders ;  Floyd  and  Wise,  of 
Virginia,  were  others.  Fortunately  they  were  not  en 
trusted  with  large  armies  as  were  Butler  and  Fremont, 
and  the  Confederate  President  ought  to  have  been 
thanked  for  resisting  the  thousand  and  one  claims 
from  this  class  of  aspirants. 

As  the  days  and  weeks  of  1861  wore  away  and  the 
area  and  the  magnitude  of  the  war  steadily  expanded, 
the  Southern  people  realized  what  a  gigantic  revolu 
tion  had  been  precipitated.  The  five  hundred  thou 
sand  " Abolitionists "  whom  Lincoln  had  "turned 
loose"  were  pouring  into  Washington,  where  they  were 
gradually  organizing  for  another  inarch  to  Eichmond. 
In  the  late  autumn  General  Lee  was  defeated  in  West 
Virginia  and  that  great  mountain  region  became  a 
stronghold  of  the  Union.  The  blockade  closed  in  on 
the  Confederacy,  trade  became  hazardous,  gold  and 
silver  took  flight,  and  prices  began  to  rise.  The 
clouds  were  settling  down  over  the  new  government  and 
upon  the  people  of  a  troubled  country. 


CHAPTEE  XVI 

A  GLOOMY  WINTER 

THE  general  elections  were  held  throughout  the  Con 
federacy  before  the  rejoicing  over  the  victory  at  Ma- 
nassas  had  waned.  Davis  was  unanimously  chosen  for 
the  presidency  for  the  constitutional  term  of  six  years. 
Stephens  met  with  some  opposition  on  account  of  his 
former  anti-secession  convictions ;  but  this  was  of 
only  passing  significance.  In  the  choice  of  members 
for  the  first  regular  Congress,  the  spirit  of  compro 
mise,  which  had  been  manifested  from  the  beginning, 
found  ample  expression.  E.  M.  T.  Hunter,  a  quasi- 
rival  of  Davis  who  feared  the  unpopularity  of  longer 
remaining  in  the  cabinet  and  who  even  thus  early 
aspired  to  the  succession,  entered  the  Senate  from  Vir 
ginia  ;  William  Ballard  Preston,  of  strong  Whig 
tendencies,  was  his  colleague.  South  Carolina,  di 
vided  between  the  friends  of  Davis  and  the  extremists, 
sent,  as  senator,  Eobert  W.  Barnwell,  whom  Stephens 
declared  to  be  the  ablest  member  of -Congress,  and 
James  L.  Orr,  a  counsellor  of  delay  in  1 860.  Georgia's 
opposition  was  well  represented  in  Stephens,  the 
Vice-President  and  chairman  of  the  Senate  and  a 
little  later  in  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  the  Douglas  candi 
date  for  the  vice-presidency  in  1860.  Alabama  sent 
Yancey,  the  most  dissatisfied  man  in  the  Confederacy 
after  Ehett.  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  Ten 
nessee  were  more  friendly  in  the  general  average  of 


A  GLOOMY  WINTER  257 

their  representatives,  with  the  notorious  exception  of 
the  irrepressible  Henry  S.  Fpote,  now  of  Tennessee, 
and  the  famous  Louis  T.  Wigfall,  of  Texas.     If  ever  a 
people  attempted  to  bridle  their  Executive,  the  South-    | 
erners  did  so  in  their  choice  of  civil  representatives^ 
during  the  war.     The  first  Confederate  Congress  under  \ 
the  Constitution  contained  all  the  elements  of  discord  I 
and  disagreement  it  was  possible  to  assemble  under ; 
one  roof  in  the  South  at  this  time. 

The  Provisional  Congress  was  called  together  for  a 
final  session  on  November  18th.  Foreshadowing  the 
already  anticipated  desperate  struggle,  Davis  said  in 
his  message  on  the  first  day  :l  "If  we  husband  our 
means  and  make  a  judicious  use  of  our  resources,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  fix  a  limit  to  the  period  during 
which  we  could  conduct  a  war  against  the  adversary 
whom  we  now  encounter."  And  by  way  of  inspir 
ing  an  everlasting  hatred  and  contempt  for  the  North 
he  added  : 

"If  instead  of  being  a  dissolution  of  a  league,  it 
were  indeed  a  rebellion  in  which  we  are  engaged,  we 
might  find  ample  vindication  for  the  course  we  have 
adopted  in  the  scenes  which  are  now  being  enacted  in 
the  United  States.  Our  people  now  look  with  con 
temptuous  astonishment  on  those  with  whom  they  had 
been  so  recently  associated.  They  shrink  with  aver 
sion  from  the  bare  idea  of  renewing  such  a  connection. 
When  they  see  a  President  making  war  without  the 
assent  of  Congress  ;  when  they  behold  judges  threatened 
because  they  maintain  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  so 
sacred  to  freedom  ;  when  they  see  justice  and  law 

Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Confederacy,  Vol.  I, 
p.  140. 


258  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

trampled  under  the  armed  heel  of  military  authority, 
and  upright  men  and  innocent  women  dragged  to  dis 
tant  dungeons  upon  the  mere  edict  of  a  despot ;  when 
they  find  all  this  tolerated  and  applauded  by  a  people 
who  had  been  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  freedom  but  a 
few  months  ago — they  believe  that  there  must  be  some 
radical  incompatibility  between  such  a  people  and 
themselves.  With  such  a  people  we  may  be  content  to 
live  at  peace,  but  the  separation  is  final,  and  for  the 
independence  we  have  asserted  we  will  accept  no  al 
ternative." 

These  references  to  the  manner  of  waging  the  war, 
to  the  treatment  of  civilians  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  were  designed  to  show  the  faint-hearted 
and  hesitating  in  the  Confederacy  the  uttetf  futility  of 
hoping  for  a  restoration  of  the  former  conditions,  as 
well  as  to  justify  the  course  of  the  South.  The  Presi 
dent  now  saw  plainly  what  lay  before  him  and  his  de 
voted  people.  He  sought  also  to  explain  in  a  dignified 
way  the  failure  of  the  mission  to  Europe  which  had 
been  expected  to  return  with  assurances  of  the  coveted 
recognition.  "  We  have  sought  no  aid  and  proposed 
no  alliances  offensive  and  defensive  abroad,"  he  said  ; 
"we  have  asked  for  a  recognized  place  in  the  great 
family  of  nations,  but  in  doing  so  we  have  demanded 
nothing  for  which  we  did  not  offer  a  fair  equivalent." 
He  then  foretold  changes  in  the  pursuits  of  the 
Southern  people  which  would  greatly  reduce  the  size 
of  the  cotton  crops,  increasing  the  amount  of  cereals 
grown  and  bringing  manufactures  to  the  very  doors  of 
the  people.  This,  he  thought,  would  give  economic 
independence,  though  it  might  entail  privation  and 
suffering  for  a  time  ;  it  would  also  seriously  threaten 


A  GLOOMY  WINTER  259 

the  stability  of  the  English  cotton  manufacturers.  He 
continued : 

i '  While  the  war  which  is  waged  to  take  from  us  the 
right  of  self-government  can  never  attain  that  end,  it 
remains  to  be  seen  how  far  it  may  work  a  revolution 
in  the  industrial  system  of  the  world,  which  may  carry 
suffering  to  other  lands  as  well  as  to  our  own.  In  the 
meantime  we  shall  continue  this  struggle  in  humble 
dependence  upon  Providence,  from  whose  searching 
scrutiny  we  cannot  conceal  the  secrets  of  our  hearts, 
and  to  whose  rule  we  confidently  submit  our  destinies." 

From  the  tone  of  the  message,  it  could  hardly  be 
predicted  that  Davis,  before  the  end  of  another  six 
mouths,  would  be  following  the  course  of  Lincoln. 
Even  in  this  document  reference  was  made  to  an  ex 
tension  of  the  powers  of  the  Confederate  Executive. 
The  two  railway  systems  connecting  the  upper  with 
the  lower  South — the  line  extending  along  the  sea- 
coast  from.  Washington  to  Charleston,  thence  through 
Georgia  and  Alabama  to  New  Orleans ;  and  the  road 
running  from  the  same  point  through  southwestern 
Virginia,  east  Tennessee,  and  Alabama  to  Mobile — 
were  seriously  threatened,  the  one  by  the  enemy  in 
eastern  North  Carolina,  the  other  by  the  Tennessee 
Unionists.  A  third  and  much  less  exposed  route 
might  be  established  by  building  a  connecting  link  be 
tween  Danville,  Ya.,  and  Greensboro,  N.  C.  This 
would  bring  the  Eichmond  and  Danville  road  of  Vir 
ginia  into  touch  with  a  Southern  road  connecting 
Greensboro,  Charlotte,  and  Atlanta  ;  and  there  was 
little  danger  of  its  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
so  long  as  the  Confederacy  had  an  existence. 

It  was  the  plainest  dictate  of  common  sense  speedily 


260  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

to  build  these  forty  miles  of  railway.  But  the  North 
Carolina  authorities,  always  jealous  of  their  constitu 
tional  rights,  objected  to  the  undertaking.  The  old 
Eichmond  and  Danville  corporation  had  proposed 
to  lay  down  this  road  some  years  before  the  war, 
but  that  state  had  thrown  obstacles  in  the  way. 
Davis  brushing  away  constitutional  difficulties  with  a 
stroke  of  the  pen,  now  urged  Congress  to  begin  con- 
jstruction  under  the  war  powers  of  the  Confederate 
government.  The  leading  Eichmond  papers  took  up 
the  President's  recommendation  with  zest,  declaring 
that  trains  would  run  over  the  new  tracks  before  the 
end  of  six  months.  Davis  gave  Congress  opportunity 
to  take  the  initiative  ;  but  he  would  not  have  hesitated 
to  order  the  work  to  begin  under  his  own  authority  as 
the  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies  of  the  Con 
federacy.  The  road  was  built  without  great  delay  and 
the  fleeing  Confederate  President  passed  over  its  lines 
southward  in  1865. 

The  time  had  already  come  when  Davis  felt  con 
strained  to  hold  in  check  the  discordant  elements  in 
the  "  republic."  If  men  had  gone  off  to  war  in  the 
preceding  spring  as  on  a  picnic  excursion  they  were 
now  disposed  to  hasten  back  to  their  homes  with  even 
more  eagerness.  Congressmen  yielded  to  the  im 
portunate  requests  of  their  constituents  and  twice 
enacted  legislation  which  would  have  put  into  the 
hands  of  irresponsible  physicians  the  authority  to 
grant  furloughs  to  any  one  and  all  who  thought  camp- 
life  not  conducive  to  good  health.  The  first  of  these 
laws  would  have  depleted  the  army  by  30, 000  men  in 
a  short  time ;  the  second,  passed  a  little  later,  was 
equally  bad.  The  President  promptly  vetoed  both 


A  GLOOMY  WINTEE  261 

and  reminded  Congress  that  an  army  could  not  be 
administered  by  statute.  The  conduct  of  military 
affairs  must  be  left  with  the  War  Department,  in 
reality  with  the  Executive  himself.  At  that  time  an 
overwhelming  force  was  pressing  Albert  Sidney  Johns 
ton  at  every  point  of  his  long  line.  The  passage  of 
this  measure  at  so  critical  an  emergency,  showed 
clearly  enough  what  sort  of  men  made  up  the  majority 
of  the  Provisional  Congress.  The  fact  that  Stephens 
and  his  friends  did  not  by  their  great  influence  prevent 
such  foolish  legislation  goes  far  to  disarm  their  bitter 
criticism  of  Davis  a  few  months  later.  Members  of 
Congress  were  then,  as  since,  seeking  popular  applause 
at  the  expense  of  the  President,  who  was  expected  to 
do  his  duty  and  protect  the  country  by  means  of  a 
veto.  Davis  was  equal  to  the  responsibility.  He  went 
a  step  further  and  said  that  Congress  ought  to  keep 
within  the  bounds  of  law  and  common  sense. ' 

During  the  late  autumn  and  early  winter,  when  the 
Southern  armies  were  daily  being  depleted  by  deser 
tions,  furloughs,  and  the  expiration  of  the  terms  of 
enlistment,  General  McClellan  was  organizing  the 
grand  army  that  was  to  move  with  irresistible  weight 
upon  the  Confederate  capital  in  the  coming  spring. 
And  Generals  Halleck  and  Grant  were  not  less  hopeful 
of  breaking  through  the  defenses  of  the  West.  The 
Xorth,  putting  forth  her  strength  like  a  mighty 
giantess,  expected  to  crush  the  South  in  a  few  short 
weeks.  Eecognizing  the  danger,  the  Eichmond  papers 
began  a  campaign  for  the  passage  of  conscript  laws  suf 
ficiently  drastic  to  put  750,000  men  in  the  field.  Sup 
ported  in  these  advanced  views  by  intelligent  public 
1  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  pp.  158,  162. 


262  JEFFEESO^  DAVIS 

opinion,  the  press,  a  little  later,  urged  the  assumption 
of  the  powers  of  a  dictator  by  Davis.  Let  martial  law 
be  proclaimed,  cried  the  Examiner ;  let  the  cities  and 
towns  be  cleared  of  loafers,  gamblers,  and  other 
1  i  birds  of  evil  omen. ' '  And  to  stimulate  the  President 
to  the  full  realization  of  the  dangers  and  disasters 
promised  in  the  near  future,  the  news  came  in  early 
February  that  Halleck  and  Grant  would  probably 
break  through  Albert  Sidney  Johnston's  lines  even  in 
the  dead  of  winter.  Before  February  20th,  it  was 
known  in  Eichmond  that  all  Kentucky  was  lost  and 
that  it  would  require  a  mighty  effort  to  save  Tennessee. 
The  railway  through  the  Southwest  would  be  captured 
when  the  Confederacy  would  be  cut  off  from  the 
rich  grain  fields  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  West 
Virginia. 

On  January  1,  1862,  gold  sold  in  Eichmond  at  a 
premium  of  fifty  per  cent.  Articles  of  daily  use  had 
risen  in  price  more  than  a  hundred  per  cent.  Salt 
sold  for  $20  per  sack,  a  u  trust"  having  been  formed 
for  the  control  of  the  trade  in  this  indispensable  com 
modity.  Men  wore  their  last  winter's  clothes  and 
ladies  appeared  in  church  with  bonnets  patched  up 
from  pieces  of  discarded  ones  of  the  last  season.  The 
railways  were  breaking  down  from  a  lack  of  iron 
for  repairs  ;  schedules  could  not  be  maintained,  even 
when  the  success  of  army  movements  depended  on 
regular  service.  Beauregard  called  on  the  churches 
of  Tennessee  and  the  lower  South  to  convert  their  bells 
into  cannon,  and  the  President  hastened  forward  his 
scanty  supplies  of  arms.  To  relieve  these  pressing 
economic  conditions  and  to  procure  the  purchase  of 
arms  and  provisions  for  the  soldiers  in  the  field,  the 


A  GLOOMY  WINTEE  263 

Confederate  Treasury  offered  merely  paper  l  '  promises- 
to-pay,"  iu  the  event  of  a  successful  issue  of  the  war. 
They  were  convertible  on  demand  into  Confederate 
bonds  bearing  eight  per  cent,  interest ;  but  the  interest 
was  payable  in  paper,  while  the  principal  was  secure 
only  on  the  return  of  peace,  and  a  peace  favorable  to 
the  South.  It  was  estimated  that  there  was  $60, 000, 000 
in  gold  in  the  Southern  states  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  ;  but  this  took  to  flight  or  was  hidden  away  in 
strong  boxes  before  the  first  half-year  had  passed. 

Meanwhile,  the  hope  of  recognition  in  Europe  had 
vanished.  The  blunder  of  Captain  Wilkes  in  the  pre 
ceding  November  in  seizing  Commissioners  Mason  and 
Slidell,  then  in  the  custody  of  the  English  mail  steamer 
Trent,  and  the  consequent  elation  and  boasting  of 
Northern  papers,  caused  Southerners  to  think  for 
awhile  that  war  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  would  ensue.  But  Seward  was  shrewd  enough 
to  see  that  such  a  policy  would  be  fatal ;  and  Lincoln 
decided  without  delay  that  the  commissioners  must  be 
given  up  to  England,  however  distasteful  to  himself 
and  the  great  public  this  might  be.  Before  the 
Christmas  season  was  well  over,  it  was  known  that 
war  would  not  follow  and  the  South  would  have  to 
fight  out  in  sweat  and  blood  the  bitter  and  unequal 
struggle. 

In  the  midst  of  these  depressing  events  and  sur 
roundings,  the  provisional  prepared  to  give  way  to 
the  regular  government.  The  inauguration  was  set  for 
February  22d,  a  day  which  states'  rights  men  of  earlier 
times  affected  to  despise.  The  procession  and  cere 
monies  were  simple  but  dignified,  the  functionaries  of 
the  governments,  both  state  and  Confederate,  taking 


264  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

their  appropriate  parts  in  their  right  places.  At 
twelve  o'clock  a  vast  concourse  assembled  on  the  ap 
pointed  ground,  at  the  foot  of  the  Washington  monu 
ment  in  the  Capitol  square.  The  sky  was  overhung 
with  clouds  and  a  cold,  penetrating  rain  fell  all  day. 
But  the  people  were  resolute  if  discouraged  ;  they  re 
mained,  many  of  them  uncovered,  to  greet  their 
President-elect  and  to  hear  what  words  of  cheer  and 
inspiration  he  might  speak.  A  few  minutes  after 
ward,  Davis  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  procession 
pale,  thin,  ill,  as  one  could  have  foreseen ;  Stephens 
followed  and  soon  the  platform  was  full.  Bishop  Johns 
of  the  diocese  of  Virginia  offered  a  touching  invoca 
tion.  Then  Davis  rose  and  delivered  his  second  in 
augural  address. 

After  a  fitting  reference  to  the  birthday  of  Washing 
ton  and  the  suggestive  surroundings,    he  explained 
once  again  the  course  of  events  which  led  to  secession, 
defending  the  right  of  leaving  the  Union  and  of  in 
dependent  state  action  in  all  vital  matters.     He  re 
ferred  to  the  military  despotism  of  the  North ;   the 
withdrawal  of  the  right  of  habeas  corpus;  the  barbarous 
brutality  of  "  our  enemies."     The  speaker  was  aware 
that  all  the  world  would  carefully  read  what  he  had  to 
say   on  this  inauspicious   occasion  ;    his  words  were 
;   consequently  well  chosen  and  his  real  thoughts  were 
i   expressed  with  precision  or  left  unspoken  with  even 
)   greater  art.     He  said  : 

11  A  million  men,  it  is  estimated,  are  now  standing 
in  hostile  array,  and  waging  war  along  a  frontier  of 
thousands  of  miles.  Battles  have  been  fought,  sieges 
have  been  conducted,  and,  although  the  contest  is  not 
ended,  and  the  tide  for  the  moment  is  against  us,  the 


A  GLOOMY  WINTER  265 

final  result  in  our  favor  is  not  doubtful.  We  have  had 
our  trials  and  difficulties.  That  we  are  to  escape  them 
in  the  future  is  not  to  be  hoped.  It  was  to  be  ex 
pected  when  we  entered  upon  this  war,  that  it  would 
expose  our  people  to  sacrifices  and  cost  them  much, 
both  of  money  and  blood. 

"  But  the  picture  has  its  lights  as  well  as  its  shadows. 
This  great  strife  has  awakened  in  the  people  the  highest 
emotions  and  qualities  of  the  human  soul.  It  was, 
perhaps,  in  the  ordination  of  Providence  that  we  were 
to  be  taught  the  value  of  our  liberties  by  the  price  we 
pay  for  them.  The  recollections  of  this  great  contest, 
with  all  its  common  traditions  of  glory,  of  sacrifice 
and  blood,  will  be  the  bond  of  harmony  and  enduring 
affection  amongst  the  people,  producing  unity  in 
policy,  fraternity  in  sentiment,  and  just  effort  in 
war."  * 

He  closed  with  a  touching  prayer  :  "  My  hope  is 
reverently  fixed  on  Him  whose  favor  is  ever  vouch 
safed  to  the  cause  which  is  just.  With  humble  grati 
tude  and  adoration,  acknowledging  the  Providence 
which  has  so  visibly  protected  the  Confederacy  during 
its  brief  but  eventful  career,  to  Thee,  O  God,  I  trust 
ingly  commit  myself,  and  prayerfully  invoke  Thy 
blessing  on  my  country  and  its  cause." 

The  people  dispersed  silently  and  in  meditation,  as 
though  they  had  attended  Divine  service.  They  were 
not  enlightened,  as  the  newspapers  lamented  next  day, 
on  the  great  subject  of  the  Western  army  or  the  means 
of  defeating  McClellan.  Not  a  word  was  spoken  as  to 
the  future  policy  of  the  government ;  no  hope  as  to 
raising  the  blockade,  already  burdensome  to  all  classes, 
1  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  pp.  183-188. 


266  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

was  given  ;  only  a  solemn,  earnest  exhortation  to  perse 
vere  in  the  holy  cause,  a  prayer  for  the  blessings  of 
High  Heaven  on  the  noble  men  and  women  who  were 
laboring  so  faithfully  in  behalf  of  the  new  nation. 

It  was  well  that  Davis  did  not  dwell  upon  the  subject 
of  the  Western  campaign,  for  all  the  signs  were  against 
the  South ;  nothing  could  be  said  of  foreign  affairs 
that  would  add  to  the  hopes  of  the  people  j  and  still 
less  could  be  published  abroad  as  to  his  plans  for  the 
future,  knowing,  as  he  did,  that  every  word  would  be 
read  in  Washington  before  the  setting  of  another  sun. 

Three  days  later  he  sent  a  message  to  Congress, 
stating  that  Fort  Donelson  and  Eoanoke  Island  were, 
as  the  papers  had  already  made  known  some  days  be 
fore  the  inauguration,  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy ; 
that  the  resources  of  the  War  Department  under  the 
volunteer  system,  though  ample  at  times,  were  too  un 
certain  for  permanent  reliance.  There  were  400  regi 
ments  in  the  field  and  probably  300,000  men  under 
arms.  These  were  scattered  along  the  border  from  the 
Chesapeake  to  the  western  boundary  of  Missouri,  from 
Columbus,  Ky.,  to  New  Orleans  and  from  Norfolk  to 
Galveston,  Tex.  He  did  not  now  directly  recommend 
the  passage  of  a  conscript  law,  but  whoever  read  care 
fully  might  have  foretold  an  early  resort  to  some  such 
measure. 

The  leaders  of  Southern  opinion  were  already  seriously 
discussing  the  formation  of  a  standing  army  modeled 
after  that  of  Prussia.  To  read  the  editorials  of  the 
Eichmond  papers  of  early  1862  is  an  entertaining  exer 
cise  to-day,  because  it  shows  how  inconsistent  Anglo- 
Saxons  are  prone  to  become  under  pressure.  If  there 
ever  was  a  section  of  the  world  that  made  a  perfect 


A  GLOOMY  WINTEB  267 

fetich  of  its  militia  that  section  was  Virginia.  And 
up  to  the  very  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  the  most 
dangerous  thing  any  public  man  could  have  done  in 
that  state  would  have  been  to  suggest  the  formation  of 
a  standing  army.  Virginians  read  Macaulay,  swore 
by  John  Hanipden,  and  declared  that  the  day  which 
saw  a  standing  army  on  American  soil  large  enough 
for  any  but  police  purposes,  would  mark  the  end  of  lib 
erty.  Indeed  the  whole  South  from  the  beginning  had 
maintained  the  popular  English  theory  that  any  but  a 
citizen  soldiery  was  the  height  of  political  folly.  Yet 
John  M.  Daniel,  the  best  of  Southerners,  now  seriously 
urged  the  Confederate  President  and  his  Congress l 
through  his  famous  newspaper  to  establish  a  regular 
army  and  order  a  universal  conscript  to  supply  it  with 
men.  The  proposed  army  was  not  intended  as  a  tem 
porary  makeshift  to  be  done  away  with  as  soon  as  the 
independence  of  the  South  was  secure,  but  as  a  regular 
" National77  organization  ready  for  any  emergency. 
Not  only  the  Examiner  but  the  Dispatch  and  other 
conservative  Southern  journals  joined  the  call  for  a 
conscript  law,  though  they  were  for  a  while  non-com 
mittal  on  the  subject  of  a  permanent  "  National  army.77 
Public  opinion,  pressed  by  repeated  reverses  in  Ken 
tucky  and  Tennessee  and  the  ever- increasing  danger 
of  direct  invasion  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  was 
speedily  educated  to  the  necessity  of  a  compulsory 
military  system. 

Davis  watched  these  signs  of  change  as  closely  as 
Lincoln  studied  the  undercurrents  of  popular  feeling 
in  the  North.     He  had  never  been  an  extreme  adver-  ; 
sary  of  regular  armies ;  he  had  increased  the  United 
1  Examiner,  January  30,  1862. 


268  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

States  Army  in  1855  and  had  been  the  "  military  " 
senator  during  all  his  career  in  Congress.  The  steady 
pressure  on  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  in  Tennessee,  and 
on  Beauregard  at  Island  No.  10  ;  the  impending  danger 
to  New  Orleans ;  the  actual  weakening  of  the  Con 
federate  forces  in  face  of  the  enemy,  with  the  beginning 
of  ugly  conflicts  between  the  Confederate  and  the 
various  state  governments,  forced  him  to  recommend 
the  passage  of  a  law  calling  out  all  able-bodied  men 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty-five. 

Yet  this  message  was  made  the  signal  for  the  open 
ing  of  a  strife  which  was  to  outlive  the  Confederacy 
itself.  The  one-year  men  whose  terms  were  about  to 
expire  felt  naturally  that  they  had  been  treated  badly 
by  the  passage  of  a  law  which  compelled  reenlistment 
"for  the  war7';  state  volunteers  for  special  local 
emergencies  were  not  pleased  to  find  themselves  sub 
ject  to  the  call  of  the  Confederate  War  Department ; 
and  the  timid  but  well-to-do  slave-holders  whose  serv 
ices  were,  in  fact,  much  needed  at  home,  loudly  re- 
^  sented  what  was  declared  to  be  an  encroachment  on 
their  constitutional  rights.  Stephens,  who  always  saw 
flaws  in  whatever  the  President  recommended  ;  Ehett, 
the  irreconcilable  ;  and  Joseph  E.  Brown,  the  war 
Governor  of  Georgia,  began  a  course  of  opposition 
which  must  be  pronounced  a  most  important,  if  not 
the  greatest,  cause  of  the  final  collapse  of  the  Con 
federacy. 

But  Davis  had  already  taken  other  steps  in  the 
government  of  the  country  which  seemed  to  certain 
members  of  Congress  a  gross  usurpation  of  authority. 
In  view  of  the  dangerous  situation  of  Norfolk,  Con 
gress,  early  in  the  winter,  had  given  the  Executive 


A  GLOOMY  WINTER  269 

the  power  to  declare  cities  similarly  situated  under 
martial  law,  and  with  this  came  the  abrogation  of  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  On  Febru 
ary  27th,  Norfolk  had  accordingly  been  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  military  authorities  there,  only  five  days 
after  the  solemn  inaugural  charges  against  President 
Lincoln  for  doing  the  same  thing.  Two  days  later  the 
city  and  vicinity  of  Eichmond  were  likewise  taken  in 
charge  by  the  military  arm.  General  John  H.  Winder 
became  the  military  governor  of  the  city,  and  a  little 
later  suspected  enemies  of  the  Confederacy,  such  as 
John  Minor  Botts,  a  distinguished  politician  and  op 
ponent  of  secession,  were  brought  to  trial  and  impris 
oned  for  offenses  not  enumerated  and  not  cognizable 
under  the  regular  process  of  law.  Thus  the  Confeder 
ate  President  followed  fast  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
Federal  President  along  the  road  to  military  despotism. 
Justification  for  acts  of  severity  was  easy  enough  then 
as  it  is  now  :  the  state,  either  Northern  or  Southern, 
could  not,  in  the  midst  of  a  desperate  struggle  for  ex 
istence,  allow  powerful  domestic  enemies  to  move  about 
freely,  doing  what  harm  they  could.  Besides  Eich 
mond  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  thieves  and  brig 
ands  who  were  preying  upon  the  vitals  of  society  al 
most  unmolested  by  an  overawed  police.  Winder 
closed  the  bar-rooms,  forbade  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  disarmed  the  population  and  put  a  stop  to  the 
general  lawlessness.  While  disgruntled  politicians 
complained  and  good  citizens  who  lived  in  comparative 
safety  never  ceased  to  rail  at  the  Southern  President 
who  essayed  the  role  of  a  despot,  the  people  in  the  im 
mediate  vicinity  of  Eichmond  were  thankful  for  the 
restoration  of  order  and  for  the  protection  of  property 


/ 


OF   THE 


270  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

which  at  once  ensued.  But  Winder  and  other  tem 
porary  military  governors  learned  to  abuse  their  power 
and  Davis  later  incurred  some  just  criticism  for  sup 
porting  their  pretensions. 

The  spring  of  1862  was  crowded  with  events :  Mc- 
Clellan,  pushed  out  of  Washington  by  the  urgency  of 
the  administration,  reached  Yorktown  on  April  2d, 
with  an  army  of  100, 000  men  on  his  way  to  Richmond  ; 
he  began  regular  siege  operations,  advancing  slowly 
but  surely,  after  the  fashion  of  the  engineer,  toward 
his  goal  with  the  least  possible  loss  of  life.  The 
skilled  eye  of  Davis  saw  what  this  much  maligned 
Union  commander  meant  to  do  ;  he  became  exceed 
ingly  apprehensive  for  the  safety  of  Eichmond,  as  the 
myriads  of  trench-diggers  advanced  mile  after  mile, 
stretching  their  wings  to  the  James  on  the  left  and  to 
Hanover  Court  House  on  the  right.  On  April  6th  and 
7th  the  bloody  battles  of  Shiloh  were  fought  and 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston  was  killed  ;  at  the  same  time 
Island  No.  10,  a  strong  Confederate  fortification  in  the 
Mississippi  off  the  northwestern  corner  of  Tennessee, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  with  an  immense 
amount  of  military  stores  and  7,000  prisoners,  the 
Southern  line  of  defense  being  immediately  deflected 
to  upper  Mississippi  and  Alabama.  On  April  20th 
Farragut  opened  the  lower  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans, 
and  on  May  1st  Norfolk  and  the  whole  lower  Chesa 
peake  Bay  became  Northern  territory.  These  losses, 
with  eastern  North  Carolina,  West  Virginia,  Ken 
tucky,  and  Missouri  already  in  the  firm  grip  of 
Union  armies,  were  enough  to  dampen  the  enthu 
siasm  of  more  zealous  secessionists  than  Jefferson 
Davis. 


A  GLOOMY  WINTEE  271 

The  only  rift  in  the  darkening  cloud  of  reverse  was 
the  success  of  the  iron -clad  Merrimac  over  her  earlier 
antagonists  in  the  lower  Chesapeake ;  but  this  soon 
closed  when  the  famous  Monitor  came  on  the  scene. 
The  Merrimac,  or  Virginia,  as  she  had  been  rechris- 
tened,  was  forced  to  retreat  and  she  was  blown  up  by 
order  of  her  own  officers  soon  after  Norfolk  surren 
dered,  lest  she  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  vic 
torious  enemy.  Bitter  indeed  was  the  feeling  of  the 
Southern  public  upon  hearing  that  this,  their  only 
hope  at  sea,  had  been  destroyed  by  Southern  hands. 
Davis  thought  it  not  wise  to  explain  to  them  that  their 
boasted  iron-clad  was  outclassed  and  rendered  useless 
as  a  means  of  aggressive  warfare ;  he  long  bore 
the  blame  of  the  newspapers  for  this  u panicky" 
act. 

An  entirely  unexpected  piece  of  good  fortune  now 
came  in  the  successes  of  "  Stonewall  "  Jackson  in  the 
Valley  of  Virginia  from  May  9th  to  June  8th.  The 
dull-looking  Virginia  school-teacher  proved  himself  a 
master  in  the  art  of  war  and  the  movement  of  men  at  a 
time  when  Davis  was  sorely  pressed,  daily  fearing  that 
Eichmond  would  have  to  be  evacuated.  But  McClel- 
lan's  mud-turtle  policy  was  bearing  fearful  fruit,  though 
the  Union  general  did  not  half  know  how  much  con 
sternation  he  was  causing.  Mrs.  Davis  fled  with  the 
family  to  Ealeigh,  N.  C.,  where  they  remained  for  a 
period  of  two  months  ;  the  archives  of  the  government 
were  packed  and  placed  on  cars  ready  for  removal  to 
Lynchburg ;  Congress  in  fear  of  capture,  unlike  the 
ancient  Eoman  Senate,  made  haste  to  adjourn  ;  and 
Davis,  according  to  the  Eichmond  Examiner,  stood 
telling  his  beads  in  St.  Paul's  Church.  Even  the  cool- 


272  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

headed  Lee,  who  succeeded  to  the  chief  command 
when  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  severely  wounded  on 
May  31st,  was  sore-pressed  for  a  plan  of  checking  Mc- 
Clellan  before  he  could  bring  his  "  long  guns  "  to  bear 
on  the  capital. 

But  the  President  was  not  so  panic-stricken  as  the 
papers  intimated.  He  and  Lee  concerted  elaborate 
arrangements  for  the  defeat  of  the  invading  army. 
Jackson  was  reinforced  from  Eichmond  and  notice  of 
the  event  was  ostentatiously  paraded  in  the  papers  of 
the  city,  in  order  that  McClellan  might  be  misled  as  to 
the  number  of  Confederates,  and  mystified  as  to  their 
designs.  The  real  aim  was  to  have  Jackson  fall  upon 
his  right  flank  near  Ashland,  and  cooperating  with  the 
Confederate  left  under  the  two  Hills  and  Longstreet, 
double  up  the  Union  lines.  At  the  same  time  the 
Confederate  right  and  front,  under  the  supervision  of 
Lee,  were  to  attack  the  Northern  forces  at  every  point. 
Davis  was  all  the  while  in  close  proximity  to  the  field 
of  battle  and  in  constant  consultation  with  Lee.  Jack 
son  failed,  for  reasons  unexplained,  to  get  his  army 
into  place  and  A.  P.  Hill  attacked,  unsupported,  late 
on  the  afternoon  of  June  26th.  The  result  was  an  in 
itial  failure  ;  but  the  first  great  conflict  between  Lee 
and  McClellan  had  begun.  It  closed  seven  days  later 
at  Malvern  Hill  and  with  the  comparatively  safe  re 
treat  of  the  Union  army  down  the  James.  Twenty 
thousand  Confederates  were  lost  in  this  slow  repulse  of 
the  powerful  Federal  army  ;  half  of  these  were  sacri 
ficed  at  Malvern  Hill,  because  of  mismanagement  or 
indifference  on  the  part  of  Lee's  subordinates.  Jack 
son  for  once  in  his  brilliant  career  had  failed  to  act  with 
vigor  on  June  29th  and  30th  at  Gl  end  ale  and  White 


A  GLOOMY  WINTEE  273 

Oak  Swamp,  when  he  might  have  caused  McClellan's 


ruin. 


With  the  failure  of  Lee  to  surround  and  capture  his 
antagonist  while  extricating  himself  from  the  swamps 
of  the  Peninsula,  the  Confederates  suffered  an  extra 
ordinary  opportunity  to  slip  through  their  fingers.  A 
truly  great  general  would  have  completely  destroyed 
McClellan's  army  if  he  had  not  led  its  commander  cap 
tive  into  Eichmond.  Davis  rightly  indulged  in  no 
censure  of  Lee  and  Jackson,  and  on  July  2d  issued  an 
address  to  the  army  of  eastern  Virginia,  congratulat 
ing  officers  and  men  on  the  splendid  victories  of  the 
last  ten  days.2  The  city  rejoiced  at  the  deliverance 
and  lionized  the  soldiers  who  had  wrought  the  ap 
parent  miracle.  The  greatest  tide  of  invasion  up  to 
that  date  had  indeed  been  rolled  back,  but  not  finally, 
for  President  Lincoln  called  on  the  states  of  the  North 
for  300, 000  three  years'  men  and  with  surprising  una 
nimity  he  was  obeyed.  Davis  might  well  close  his 
address  with  the  admonition  :  "  But  duty  to  a  suffer 
ing  country  and  to  the  cause  of  constitutional  liberty 
claims  from  you  yet  further  effort." 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV,  p.  46  ;  E.  P.  Alexander,  Military  Memoirs  of 
a  Confederate,  pp.  121-129. 

2  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  229. 


CHAPTEE  XVII 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR 

AFTER  the  failure  of  the  Peninsula  campaign,  the 
authorities  in  Washington  became  disgusted  with  Mc- 
Clellan's  conduct  of  the  army  and  even  doubted  his 
patriotism.  General  Halleck,  under  whose  supervision 
Grant,  Buell  and  Pope  had  gained  important  victories 
in  the  West,  was  summoned  to  Washington  to  take 
charge  of  the  armies  of  the  East.  He  recalled  McClel- 
lan  from  the  James  late  in  August  and  ordered  him  to 
station  the  major  part  of  his  troops  at  Acquia  Creek 
near  Alexandria.  General  Pope,  a  self-centred  man  of 
West  Point  training  and  Abolitionist  antecedents,  was 
also  brought  from  the  scene  of  his  success  at  Island 
No.  10  in  the  Mississippi  to  take  charge  of  the  forces 
then  operating  under  McDowell  and  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  men  drawn  from  eastern  Virginia,  ^ope  was 
expected  to  march  direct  to  Eichmond  over  the  road 
made  famous  a  year  before  by  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and 
Beauregard.  He  began  his  movements  by  breathing  out 
threats  of  dire  vengeance  on  the  "  rebels."  Supported 
by  the  combined  influence  of  Secretaries  Chase  and 
Stanton  and  given  a  free  hand  by  the  bureaucrat  Hal 
leck,  it  was  confidently  expected  in  Washington  that 
something  would  at  last  be  done  toward  the  reduction 
of  Eichmond. 

On  July  13th,  Lee  sent  Jackson's  corps  to  the  neigh- 


PEOGEESS  OF  THE  WAE  275 

borhood  of  Gordonsville  to  watch  the  operations  of 
McDowell,  whom,  he  had  left  in  northern  Virginia 
when  he  had  marched  so  rapidly  to  the  aid  of  Lee  in 
the  Seven  Days'  Battles.  Toward  the  end  of  July, 
A.  P.  Hill  was  dispatched  to  Jackson's  assistance. 
Lee  himself  remained  in  Eichmond  until  the  purposes 
of  the  enemy  became  clear.  When  he  learned  of 
Pope's  appointment,  he  sent  for  Longstreet  who  had 
been  the  former's  classmate  at  West  Point,  to  know 
what  sort  of  a  man  they  had  to  deal  with.  Together 
they  made  a  fair  estimate  of  their  chances  which  were 
favorable  to  the  South.  On  August  13th  the  bulk  of 
the  Confederate  army  was  converging  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Manassas,  and  two  days  later  Lee  held  a 
council  of  war  at  Pisgah  Church,  near  the  scene  of  the 
coining  battle.  Pope,  who  now  had  an  army  of 
70, 000,  supported  by  half  as  many  more  in  reserve,  had 
advanced  the  larger  portion  of  it  into  a  position  invit 
ing  attack,  and  left  his  line  of  communications  with 
Washington  exposed. 

General  Lee  commanded  only  55,000  men  all  told, 
but  his  army  was  in  excellent  spirits.  The  Union 
general,  on  the  other  hand,  as  Lee  was  doubtless  aware, 
had  managed  to  offend  every  important  corps  com 
mander  who  was  to  take  part  in  the  conquest  of  Vir 
ginia;  and  McClellan,  who  was  now  practically  re 
moved  from  control,  was  none  too  well  disposed  toward 
an  upstart  rival.  Under  these  circumstances,  Lee 
planned  boldly.  He  sent  Jackson  on  a  two  days' 
march  around  the  Federal  right  to  seize  Pope's  sup 
plies  and  break  his  communications  with  Washington  ; 
Lougstreet  was  to  support  Jackson  and  when  the  toils 
were  fully  set,  Lee  intended  to  attack  in  force.  All 


276  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

together  they  would  isolate  Pope  and  compel  him  to 
surrender  his  entire  army  as  prisoners  of  war. 

But  on  the  night  of  August  17th,  Stuart's  adjutant- 
general,  who  carried  a  letter  from  Lee  to  Jackson,  was 
captured  and  conveyed  to  the  Union  headquarters. 
Pope  thus  learned  that  "  Stonewall"  was  approaching 
his  right  in  force  and  withdrew  his  exposed  divisions. 
The  attack  was  then  postponed  until  the  26th  and 
27th,  when  Jackson  carried  out  his  part  of  the  original 
plan  and  seized  the  enemy's  stores.  On  the  second 
day  a  vast  bonfire  was  made  at  Centre ville  of  the  cap 
tured  supplies  and  the  wily  Confederate  retreated  to  a 
safe  place,  whence  he  could  cooperate  with  Lee  and 
Longstreet  near  Manassas.  Pope,  with  his  whole  army 
at  hand,  issued  orders  to  move  against  Jackson  at  early 
dawn  and  "  bag  the  whole  crowd."  But  the  Confeder 
ate  strategist  misled  Pope  and  kept  him  marching  and 
countermarching  60,000  of  his  troops  all  day,  within 
gunshot  of  his  own  position  yet  without  discovery. 
Late  on  the  28th,  Jackson  attacked  the  Union  forces, 
while  Longstreet  and  Lee  were  twelve  miles  away,  and 
lost  heavily,  though  he  still  further  confused  and 
mystified  the  foe.  He  continued  to  be  strongly  sta 
tioned  in  a  piece  of  dense  woodland  on  Pope's  right. 
The  next  morning  Lee  hastened  Longstreet  to  Jack 
son's  support,  but  Longstreet,  for  some  reason,  moved 
slowly,  and  did  not  get  into  position  till  late  in  the 
day.  This  delayed  Lee's  plans  until  the  enemy  again 
came  to  a  realization  of  their  peril.  On  the  30th,  the 
combined  Confederate  attack  was  made  and  Pope  was 
badly  defeated,  losing  thirty  guns,  20,000  rifles,  7,000 
prisoners  and  13,500  in  killed  and  wounded.  The 
tardy  movements  of  Longstreet  the  day  before  saved 


PEOGEESS  OF  THE  WAE  277 

the  Union  army  from  complete  disaster  and  caused  the 
loss  of  many  thousand  Confederates.  Pope  retreated 
as  rapidly  toward  Washington  as  McDowell  had  done 
a  year  before.  He  was  the  laughing-stock  of  his  army 
until  his  removal  a  short  while  afterward.  The  80, 000 
men  who  entered  the  fortifications  of  Washington  in 
the  first  days  of  September,  1862,  were  almost  as  badly 
demoralized  as  their  predecessors  had  been  in  1861. 
They  called  loudly  for  McClellan.  But  Chase  and 
Stanton  were  bitter  in  their  denunciation  of  that  gen 
eral.  A  cabinet  meeting  was  held,  with  the  result 
that  the  President  was  almost  unanimously  advised 
not  to  return  the  commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Po 
tomac  to  his  old  place.  Lincoln  did  so,  notwithstand 
ing,  and  McClellan,  who  began  speedily  to  revive  the 
morale  of  the  troops,  prepared  to  strike  a  blow  at  Lee, 
whose  movements  now  became  the  cause  of  growing 
consternation  in  the  North  as  well  as  at  Washington. l 

Meanwhile  Braxton  Bragg,  Beauregard's  successor 
in  Tennessee,  balked  Buell  in  his  purpose  of  wresting 
the  eastern  portions  of  that  state  from  the  Confeder 
ates.  Kirby  Smith  advanced  into  middle  Kentucky 
with  fair  prospects  of  reestablishing  there  the  power 
of  the  South,  gaining  a  victory  at  Eichmond,  and 
Bragg  hastened  forward  at  the  end  of  August  to  aid 
in  the  great  work.  On  September  2d  he  read  to  his 
army  the  news  of  Lee's  victory  over  Pope.  There 
was  every  reason  for  Davis  and  his  generals  to  put 
forth  superhuman  efforts  to  continue  this  tide  of  vic 
tory  until  it  should  sweep  beyond  the  Ohio  Eiver. 

A  comprehensive  plan  was  outlined  and  agreed  upon. 

1  Wood  and  Edmonds,  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  :  2d  Manas- 
sas ;  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV,  p.  137. 


278  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Lee,  collecting  his  full  strength,  between  40,000  and 
45,000  men,  was  to  enter  Maryland  near  Frederick  ; 
cause  the  surrender  of  Harper's  Ferry  on  his  left  ;  draw 
McClellan  away  from  Washington  ;  issue  a  proclamation 
to  the  Confederate  sympathizers  in  eastern  Maryland  ; 
and  fight  a  decisive  battle  near  the  borders  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  A  happy  result  was  confidently  expected,  with 
probably  the  annihilation  of  the  Union  army.  At 
this  juncture  Davis  was  to  join  Lee  and  together  they 
would  offer  peace  to  the  North  on  the  single  condition 
of  Southern  independence.  This  would  come  at  a 
time  when  the  Congressional  elections  were  being  de 
cided  ;  if  the  Federal  authorities  should  refuse  moder 
ate  demands,  the  North  would  very  likely  return  the 
Democrats  to  power  in  such  numbers  as  practically  to 
force  the  hand  of  Lincoln. 

The  North  was  thoroughly  frightened.  The  thrifty 
farmers  of  Pennsylvania,  the  merchants  and  manu 
facturers  of  Philadelphia,  even  the  brokers  and  money 
changers  of  New  York,  trembled  when  they  looked  at 
their  morning  papers  lest  it  be  announced  that  Lee, 
whose  army  was  always  estimated  at  twice  its  actual 
strength,  had  captured  McClellan  and  was  thundering 
along  the  great  highways  to  the  Susquehanna.  Valu 
ables  were  hidden  away  in  the  ground ;  women  and 
children  were  packed  off  to  the  mountains  ;  while 
Governor  Curtin  called  loudly  for  the  militia  to  come 
to  the  aid  of  the  distressed  state.  President  Lincoln 
and  Secretary  Stanton  were  exceedingly  restive  ;  they 
were  not  sure  of  their  generals  and  the  sentiment  of 
the  soldiers  was  not  such  as  to  augur  certain  success. 
The  proposed  Emancipation  Proclamation,  which  had 
been  before  the  cabinet  as  a  final  appeal  to  the 


PEOGEESS  OP  THE  WAE  279 

radicals  of  the  North  to  rally  now  to  their  favorite 
cause,  the  freedom  of  the  negro,  was  laid  away  till  a 
more  convenient  season.  Both  sides  were  convinced 
that  a  single  great  battle  might  decide  the  issue. 
Even  the  cool-headed  Lee  felt  that  the  defeat  of  the 
Union  army  would  bring  the  war  to  an  end. 

Let  us  turn  now  from  astute  plans  and  anxious  ex 
pectations  to  actual  execution.  Lee  crossed  the  Po 
tomac  during  the  early  days  of  September  and  occu 
pied  Frederick  on  the  7th  ;  on  the  9th,  he  noted  that 
the  Union  force  of  11,000  had  not  evacuated  Harper's 
Ferry  as  he  had  expected.  He  at  once  ordered  Jack 
son  to  that  point,  and  Longstreet  was  to  cooperate  by 
stretching  out  his  corps  toward  his  extreme  left.  Lee 
remained  comparatively  inactive,  watching  the  move 
ments  of  McClellan's  army  of  85,000  men,  as  it  ad 
vanced  slowly  along  the  roads  from  Washington  toward 
Frederick.  On  the  13th,  McClellan  was  nearing  the 
Southern  position.  On  that  day  the  Confederate  plan 
of  invasion  and  attack,  lost  by  the  carelessness  of 
D.  H.  Hill,  was  found  and  given  to  him.  Knowing 
at  once  that  Jackson  was  many  miles  away  and  that 
Longstreet  was  near  Hagerstown,  he  hastened  to  cap 
ture  the  Confederates  by  piecemeal  ;  but  speed  to  the 
Union  commander  was  quite  different  from  what  it 
was  to  "Stonewall."  He  did  not  reach  Lee's  position 
until  the  17th,  when  even  Longstreet  was  ready  for  the 
conflict  and  Jackson  was  returning  from  his  distant 
work,  Hushed  with  victory  and  complete  success.  Lee 
had  brought  together  the  major  part  of  his  army  after 
some  losses,  taking  a  stand  behind  Antietam  Creek 
but  in  front  of  the  Potomac  Eiver  into  which  he 
might  be  driven  if  the  battle  went  against  him.  He 


280  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

was  outnumbered  two  to  one  1  by  an  army  devoted  to 
its  leader  and  hopeful  of  victory.  The  battle  would 
have  occurred  on  the  16th,  but  for  the  constitutional 
sloth  and  petty  carefulness  of  McClellan.  On  that 
day  Jackson  put  his  corps  into  place.  After  some 
changes  of  the  positions  in  line  of  his  chief  lieutenants, 
the  Union  general  attacked.  The  bloody  work  began 
about  5  o'clock  A.  M.  on  the  17th,  and  continued  until 
late  in  the  afternoon,  without  decisive  result  to  either 
side  except  in  the  fearful  loss  of  life.  On  the  next  day 
Lee  was  with  difficulty  dissuaded  from  renewing  the 
fight,  and  on  the  19th,  the  Confederates  recrossed  the 
Potomac  without  molestation.  The  first  Maryland 
campaign  had  failed,  a  result  due  in  the  main  to  the 
"lost  dispatch."  Lee  had  sacrificed  nearly  10,000  of 
the  very  flower  of  his  army  ;  while  McClellau's  killed 
and  wounded  numbered  12,000. 

The  proclamation  to  the  Maryland  people  had  been 
issued  and  "Maryland,  My  Maryland"  was  added  to 
the  stock  of  Southern  war  songs.  But  the  inhabitants 
of  the  western  part  of  the  state  remained  true  to  the 
Union  cause  to  which  they  were  closely  bound  ;  and 
the  Southern  influence  had  not  reached  the  eastern 
counties  until  after  Lee's  failure,  when  it  was  perilous 
to  move.  The  offer  of  peace  to  the  North  by  Davis 
and  Lee  was  not  made  and  the  Northern  people  re 
gained  their  composure,  rendering  fairly  loyal  sup 
port  to  their  government  in  the  ensuing  elections. 
Lincoln,  taking  what  courage  he  could  from  the  drawn 
battle,  issued  his  famous  proclamation  declaring  slav 
ery  at  an  end  in  all  portions  of  the  country  which 
were  in  insurrection  against  the  United  States. 
1  Wood  and  Edmonds,  p.  128. 


PEOGEESS  OF  THE  WAE  281 

Before  the  end  of  September  Bragg  confessed  his 
failure  in  Kentucky.  He  had  permitted  Buell  to  out 
manoeuvre  him  and  reach  Louisville,  the  true  objective 
of  both  sides,  in  time  to  make  useless  further  effort  by 
the  Confederates.  Bragg  had  thrown  away  advan 
tages  which  to  Lee  or  Jackson  would  have  been  entering 
wedges  for  the  conquest  of  the  coveted  line  of  the  Ohio. 

The  interest  of  Davis  in  these  large  schemes  of  Sep 
tember,  1862,  was  intense.  He  wrote  Lee  almost  daily 
after  the  second  battle  of  Manassas.  On  the  2d  of 
September  he  hastened  the  good  news  of  victory  to 
Bragg  and  encouraged  him  in  his  plans  for  the  move 
ment  into  Kentucky  ;  on  the  4th,  he  proclaimed  to  the 
country  that  the  ' '  Lord  of  Hosts  had  once  more 
blessed  our  arms  with  victory  on  the  plains  of 
Manassas."  He  also  added  the  news  of  Confederate 
victory  at  Eichmond,  Ky . ,  and  called  upon  the  people 
to  i  i  bow  down  in  adoring  thankfulness  to  that  gracious 
God  who  has  been  our  bulwark  and  defense."  l  His  ' 
original  desire  to  serve  the  Confederacy  as  a  com-/  " 
mander  in  the  field  came  to  view  again  during  these? 
days  of  buoyant  hope.  He  set  out  to  join  Lee  at  the! 
moment  the  latter  entered  Maryland.2  But  on  receiv 
ing  word  from  the  general  that  he  had  abandoned  the 
line  of  communications  leading  direct  to  Frederick, 
which  would  render  hazardous  the  proposed  journey, 
he  returned  to  Eichmond,  writing  Lee  in  detail  as  to 
what  he  desired  to  be  said  in  the  address  to  the  people 
of  Maryland.  These  instructions  were  admirably 
drawn  and  presented  a  plausible  apology  for  the  in 
vasion  as  well  as  for  the  war  in  general.  The  discon- 

1  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  pp.  268-269. 

a  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XIX,  Part  II,  p.  602. 


7 


282  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

tent  and  sufferings  of  the  Marylanders  were  referred 
to  in  the  most  propitiating  language.1 

In  Lee's  anxiety  lest  Davis  should  run  too  great  a 
risk,  he  sent  an  aide,  Major  W.  H.  Taylor,  to  dissuade 
the  President  from  the  trip.  This  zeal  for  his  safety 
has  been  taken  to  indicate  that  the  Commander-in-chief 
did  not  desire  his  presence  at  the  front.  There  is  no 
evidence  to  justify  such  a  conclusion.  Lee  and  Davis 
were  intimate  friends,  they  cooperated  without  fric 
tion  and  in  no  instance  was  the  general  hampered  in 
his  movements  by  his  superior.  Davis  gave  Lee  an 
absolutely  free  hand  and  did  his  utmost  to  support  all 
his  plans  with  the  necessary  men  and  means. 

The  hopes  of  the  army  now  fell.  Soon  after  recross- 
ing  the  Potomac,  General  Lee  reported  that  from  a 
fourth  to  a  third  of  his  army  was  dispersed,  chiefly  be 
cause  of  the  straggling  propensities  of  the  men  ;  also 
that  from  6,000  to  10,000  of  his  soldiers  were  bare 
footed  and  had  been  since  the  beginning  of  the  march 
into  Maryland.  Wagons  and  horses  for  transportation 
were  lacking  ;  and  both  officers  and  men,  except  those 
above  the  grade  of  brigadier,  were  insensible  to  the 
importance  of  discipline.  To  remedy  the  ills  due  to 
straggling,  he  asked  for  a  permanent  court-martial 
composed  of  men  of  high  standing  and  clothed  with 
authority  to  inflict  the  death  penalty.  Congress  mani 
fested  no  desire  to  conform  to  this  request  and  began 
an  inquiry  as  to  whether  officers  of  the  armies  had 
been  allowed  to  impose  capital  sentences.  Lee  further 
urged  an  extension  of  the  conscript  law  so  as  to  include 
all  able-bodied  men  between  eighteen  and  forty-five 
years  of  age.  This,  he  thought,  would  bring  him  a 
1  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XIX,  Part  II,  p.  598. 


PEOGEESS  OF  THE  WAE  283 

sufficient  number  of  recruits  to  enable  him  to  confront  j 
the  growing  army  of  his  opponent.  A  violent  debate  \^ 
broke  forth  in  Congress  when  Davis  recommended  the  T 
passage  of  such  a  measure.  Yancey  of  Alabama  was 
most  offensive  in  his  opposition  ;  he  believed,  as  was 
natural  for  such  a  doctrinaire,  that  a  return  to  the 
volunteer  system  would  bring  the  desired  recruits. 
Stephens,  who  should  have  been  a  wiser  man  by  this 
time,  was  as  unreasonable  as  Yancey.  North  Carolina 
replied  to  the  demand  for  more  troops  with  the  elec 
tion  of  Vance,  an  avowed  opponent  of  Davis,  to  the 
all-important  position  of  governor,  by  a  majority  of 
40,000  over  the  administration  candidate.  Joseph  E. 
Brown,  Governor  of  Georgia,  had  already  refused  to 
recognize  the  drafts  under  the  former  conscription. 
From  this  time  he  put  every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the 
administration. 

These  were  not  encouraging  signs  ;  but  worse  were  to 
come.  The  ardent  extremists  of  South  Carolina  who, 
from  the  beginning,  had  called  for  the  capture  of 
Washington,  began  to  utter  their  complaints  of  mis 
management  : — of  extreme  caution  on  the  part  of  Lee, 
of  incompetence  on  the  part  of  others.  To  these  criti 
cisms  the  many  adherents  of  the  Examiner  now  joined 
their  voices,  and  Yancey  went  so  far  as  to  declare  in 
the  Confederate  Senate  on  September  16th,  that  he  j 
preferred  conquest  by  the  enemy  to  the  despotism  of  j 
Davis.  He  denied  the  power  of  the  Confederate  gov- ' 
ernment  to  call  upon  the  militia  of  the  states  for  their 
defense.  Even  Henry  S.  Foote,  now  a  member  of  the 
House  from  Tennessee,  proposed  overtures  of  peace. 
Instead  of  urging  forward  to  Lee  every  man  and  every 
dollar  that  could  be  spared,  these  men  entered  into  a 


284  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

bitter  controversy  about  the  unfair  distribution  among 
the  states  of  the  high  military  offices.  It  was  "  hor 
rible  ' '  to  Alabamians  and  North  Carolinians  that  Vir 
ginia  had  so  many  generals. 

Davis  was  sorely  vexed  at  the  stubborn  resistance  to 
his  recommendations  ;  and  this  spirit,  coupled  with 
the  extravagance  of  some  of  his  antagonists,  led  him  to 
adopt  more  dictatorial  methods  than  were  wise.  All 
his  early  fire  and  impatience  of  restraint  were  called 
into  play.  He  carried  his  measures,  but  at  the  ex 
pense  of  some  important  former  friendships  which 
might  possibly  have  been  saved  to  him.  Toward  Lee, 
however,  he  manifested  the  finest  spirit.  He  wrote  to 
that  discouraged  general  on  September  28th,  describ 
ing  the  difficulties  he  had  with  Congress  and  the  ap 
prehensions  and  distempers  of  those  who  criticised  the 
movements  of  the  army.  He  would  do  everything  in 
the  power  of  the  Executive  to  relieve  urgent  needs  in 
the  field,  and  send  forward  as  many  fresh  troops  as 
could  be  collected.  The  kindly  letter  closed  without 
a  regret  as  to  the  failure  at  Antietam  and  assured  Lee 
that  no  amount  of  outside  criticism  could  weaken  his 
faith  in  the  commander-in-chief.  ' 1 1  am  alike  happy, 7  7 
said  he,  i  i  in  the  confidence  felt  in  your  ability,  and 
your  superiority  to  outside  clamor,  when  the  uninformed 
assume  to  direct  the  movements  of  armies  in  the 
field. "  l  Lee  felt  the  force  of  these  most  welcome 
words  and  replied  on  the  day  he  received  them  :  "I 
wish  I  felt  that  I  deserved  the  confidence  you  express 
in  me.  I  am  only  conscious  of  an  earnest  desire  to  ad 
vance  the  interests  of  the  country  and  of  my  inability 
to  accomplish  my  wishes.'7 

1  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XIX,  Part  II,  p.  634. 


PEOGEESS  OP  THE  WAE  285 

Such  good-will  and  loyal  support  were  not  in  store 
for  McClellan,  whose  work  at  Antietam  had  had  the 
effect  of  a  signal  victory.  He  was  a  Democrat,  an  op 
ponent  of  the  radical  policy  of  the  North  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery ;  he  was  popular,  and  the  logic  of 
events  marked  him  out  as  the  candidate  of  his  party 
for  the  presidency  at  the  next  election.  His  recent 
practical  triumph  over  Lee  with  an  army  of  100,000 
men,  as  it  was  believed  in  the  North,  added  to  his 
laurels  and  intensified  the  devotion  of  his  troops. 
There  was  now  as  much  need  of  getting  McClellan  out 
of  the  way  as  there  had  been  of  breaking  down  the  in 
fluence  of  General  Taylor,  in  1847. '  He  was  curtly 
dismissed  on  November  7,  1862,  and  Burnside,  the 
successful  general  in  eastern  North  Carolina,  a  corps 
commander  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was  given 
the  responsible  position. 

Burnside  altered  the  plan  of  campaign  arranged  by 
his  predecessor  and  set  his  troops  in  motion  toward 
Fredericksburg,  from  which  point  the  new  march  to 
Eichmond  was  to  begin.  Lee  was  pleased  with  the 
change.  He  prepared  to  meet  his  opponent  on  the 
line  of  the  North  Anna  Eiver,  thirty-five  miles  south 
of  Fredericksburg.  His  aim  was  to  draw  the  whole 
Army  of  the  Potomac  into  the  woodlands  and  swamps 
of  eastern  Virginia  during  an  inclement  season,  sur 
round  it,  and  force  a  total  surrender  not  unlike  the 
victory  of  Von  Moltke  at  Sedan  in  1870.  It  is  more 
than  probable  that,  with  Burnside  in  command,  such 
a  catastrophe  would  have  befallen  the  Union  army, 
had  Lee  been  permitted  to  have  his  way.  But  Davis 
feared  to  take  the  great  risk  of  permitting  the  enemy 
1  Cf .  Wood  and  Edmonds,  p.  143,  on  this  point. 


286  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

to  come  within  twenty  miles  of  the  capital  without  an 
attempt  to  check  him.     The  Eichmond,  Fredericks- 
burg,  and  Potomac  Eailway  officials  and  the  citizens 
of  the  region  to  be  traversed  by  the  contending  hosts 
added  their  earnest  pleas.     Besides,  the  affairs  of  the 
Confederacy  in  the  Southwest  were  in  a  dangerous 
situation,  since  the  failure  of  Bragg' s  movement  against 
Kentucky  ;  and  Davis  justly  feared  that  to  allow  Burn- 
side  to  penetrate  the  very  heart  of  Virginia  after  the 
failure  of  the  Maryland  campaign  would  work  harm  in 
^Tennessee  and  on  the  Mississippi.     The  President  took 
\  counsel  of  his  fears  for  once  and  hoped  for  recognition 
!  or  intervention  from  Europe.1     Lee  was  not  seriously 
V    J disappointed  on  learning  the  President's  suggestions, 
/  since  he  also  was  very  loath  to  destroy  the  only  rail- 
-  road  in  this  section  and  lay  waste  a  loyal  region. 

The  campaign  of  Fredericksburg  now  began.  Long- 
street  took  his  position  late  in  November  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Eappahannock.  Jackson  was  ordered  to 
Orange  Court  House,  where  he  could  threaten  the  right 
flank  of  the  enemy  or  at  a  moment's  notice  march  to 
the  assistance  of  Lee  who  was  with  Lougstreet.  In  the 
face  of  an  army  of  113,000,  the  Confederate  general 
deliberately  divided  his  forces  and  was  not  uneasy. 
On  December  12th,  the  bloody  battle  of  Fredericks- 
burg  began.  Jackson  had  reached  his  place  on  the 
right  only  the  day  before,  while  Longstreet  had  had 
time  to  entrench  and  render  a  natural  stronghold  im 
pregnable.  The  Confederates  had  in  line  and  near  the 
field  78,000  men,  half  of  whom  had  seen  service  from 
the  beginning  of  the  war.  Burnside's  men  were  the 

1  Col.  G.  F.  R.  Henderson,  Stonewall  Jackson,  ed.  of  1900,  Vol. 
II,  p.  302. 


PKOGEESS  OF  THE  WAR  287 

flower  of  McClellan's  well -drilled  array.  The  weak 
place  in  Lee's  line  was  on  Jackson's  right  j  the  strong 
est  was  Longstreet's  left.  Burnside,  for  some  unknown 
reason,  chose  to  make  only  a  minor  effort  against  Jack 
son  and  concentrated  his  best  troops  in  an  attack  on 
Lougstreet.  The  result  was  what  any  good  division 
commander  in  the  Union  army  must  have  anticipated 
— disaster.  More  than  12,000  of  Burnside' s  men  fell, 
while  barely  5,000  Confederates  were  killed  and 
wounded,  a  majority  of  whom  were  in  Jackson's  un 
defended  position.  Lee  was  surprised  to  witness  such 
folly,  though  he  was  unable  to  profit  by  it  on  account 
of  the  naturally  strong  ground  beyond  the  river  into 
which  the  defeated  army  retired  at  the  close  of  the 
battle.  Indeed,  the  Southern  commander  seems  never 
to  have  learned  how  to  use  a  victory  ;  he  could  beat  a 
great  army  with  a  small  one  but  could  not,  like  Na 
poleon,  annihilate  it. 

It  was  known  in  Richmond  since  the  early  days  of 
December  that  a  battle  was  to  be  fought  near  Fredericks- 
burg.  The  government  manifested  no  uneasiness.  The 
people  of  the  city  thought  a  victory  would  close  the 
war ; l  and  General  Lee  wrote  Davis  that  a  complete 
triumph  at  that  time  would  probably  have  this  result. 
This  expectation  was  wide-spread  and  affected  the  re 
cruiting  service  ;  it  accounts,  in  some  measure,  for  the 
rapid  and  surprising  increase  of  Lee's  army  from 
33,000  men  on  September  22d,  to  91,000  by  the  10th  of 
December,  at  a  season  of  the  year  when  the  greatest 
hardships  were  anticipated. 2  The  soldiery  of  the  South 

1  Jones,  A  Rebel  War  Clerk's  Dairy  ;  the  Richmond  papers,  passim. 

2  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XIX,  Part  I,  p.  621 ;  Ibid.,  XXI, 
p.  105. 


288  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

as  of  the  North  was  still  of  a  citizen  character.  When 
important  events  were  expected,  and  victory  seemed 
imminent,  they  flocked  to  the  standards  ;  but  when 
depression  and  defeat  reigned,  they  industriously 
ploughed  their  fields  or  minded  their  shops.  After 
the  battle  of  Antietani,  almost  half  of  McClellan's  men 
deliberately  went  home  to  attend  to  their  private 
affairs1  and  Lee's  nominal,  as  shown  on  the  original 
muster  rolls,  was  twice  his  real  strength,  even  at  the 
time  of  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg.  This  buoyancy 
of  the  public  spirit,  this  popular  and  official  expecta 
tion  that  the  war  was  about  to  be  brought  to  an  end, 
shows  that  the  people  had  not  come  to  realize  the  mean 
ing  and  magnitude  of  the  struggle. 

A  cause  of  this  cheerful  outlook  in  the  South,  so 
different  from  the  prevailing  opinion  during  the  pre 
ceding  winter,  aside  from  the  signal  victories  in  Vir 
ginia,  was  the  favorable  turn  of  things  in  Europe. 
Slidell  had  been  received  with  marked  courtesy  in 
Paris.  Mason  at  first  met  with  the  proverbial  British 
aloofness,  but  in  September,  Mr.  Gladstone,  then  a 
powerful  member  of  the  administration,  said  in  an 
address  at  Newcastle  that  the  Southern  leaders  had 
created  an  army,  a  navy,  and  a  nation.  A  little  later 
Mason  was  given  to  understand  that  Napoleon  III  had 
sounded  the  British  government  on  the  subject  of 
intervention.  The  French  Emperor  was  then  deeply 
involved  in  the  scheme  to  put  Maximilian  of  Austria 
on  a  Mexican  throne.  He  likewise  had  important 
commercial  ends  to  serve.  To  his  mind  there  could 
never  be  a  better  time  for  France  to  make  a  move 
looking  toward  the  increase  of  her  influence  and  power 
1  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XIX,  Part  II,  pp.  365,  374. 


PEOGEESS  OF  THE  WAE  289 

in  America.  On  October  30th,  he  proposed  to  Eng 
land  and  Eussia  a  plan  of  joint  intervention,  calling 
upon  the  parties  to  the  American  war  to  submit  to  an 
armistice  for  six  months,  in  which  time  they  were  to  be 
persuaded  peacefully  to  arrange  their  difficulties. l  An 
other  sign  of  European  favor  was  the  readiness  of 
English  and  French  financiers  to  underwrite  Confed 
erate  bonds.  It  appeared  to  Davis  at  this  time  that  it 
was  only  a  matter  of  weeks  or  months  when  the  newj 
government  would  be  formally  received  into  the  family] 
of  nations.  And  such  an  outcome  was  the  nightmare 
of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  the  Minister  of  the  United 
States  in  London,  during  these  autumn  days.  He 
read  Gladstone's  speech,  hastened  to  Earl  Eussellwith 
his  earnest  protests,  and  a  little  later  played  the  bold 
game  of  threatening  to  ask  for  his  passports,  in  case 
the  French  proposals  were  favorably  considered  in 
London.2 

Here  was  a  crisis  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
Confederacy.  Eussell  yielded  to  Adams  ;  admonished 
Gladstone  for  speaking  his  mind  so  freely  ;  and  de 
layed  answering  Napoleon's  note  for  a  half-month. 
Eussia  replied  earlier  and  with  a  decided  negative. 
The  Confederate  commissioners,  once  at  the  height  of 
hope  and  expectancy,  had  now  sadly  to  inform  their 
government  that  recognition  was  postponed  indefinitely. 
Thus  the  tide  had  turned  in  Europe,  while  at  home  the 
fearful  battle  of  Fredericksburg  did  not  end  the  war. 
Winter  set  in  intensely  cold  and  harsh  ;  and  the  two 
armies  went  into  camp  to  await  the  opening  of  spring, 

lEise  and  Fall,  Vol.   II,  pp.  376-377  ;  Life  of  James  M.  Mason, 
by  his  daughter,  pp.  338,  349. 
2  C.  F.  Adams,  Life  of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  p.  278  on. 


290  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

when  they  could  again  get  at  each  other's  throats.  But 
Lee  was  not  despondent  though  he  had  to  pay  $15  a 
pair  for  shoes  for  his  barefooted  men,  procured  bread 
with  difficulty,  and  meat  not  at  all. 


CHAPTEE  XVIII          , 

EISING  TIDE  OF  CONFEDERATE  OPPOSITION 

IT  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  head  of  a  revolu4 
tionary  government  on  whom  depended  the  lives  and  \ 
fortunes  of  millions  of  people  could  avoid  criticism  or 
even  bitter  hostility.  And  unfortunately  Davis  was 
not  a  man  who  could  well  compose  differences.  He 
was  not  a  compromiser  ;  and  his  military  education 
and  later  political  success,  arising  from  the  consistent 
pursuit  of  a  definite  line  of  policy,  had  only  confirmed 
him  in  habits  of  self-confidence  and  command.  He 
could  not  conciliate  disappointed  rivals  like  Ehett  and 
Yancey,  and  he  failed  of  course  to  appease  Joseph  E. 
Johnston  and  Beauregard,  both  of  whom  made  tacit 
alliances  with  his  opponents — Johnston  with  Stephens 
and  Beauregard  with  the  Ehett  family. 

But  Davis  was  not  indifferent  to  the  personal  liberty  j 
of  his  people  nor  forgetful  of  the  rights  of  individuals. 
He  was  slow  to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  and  when  he  did  finally  yield  to  the 
needs  of  the  situation,  it  was  only  under  the  forms  of 
law  and  at  the  request  of  Congress  and  the  people  con-  • 
cerned.     In  this  respect  the  contrast  with  President  • 
Lincoln  is  all  in  favor  of  the  Southern  leader.     And 
when  the  need  for  martial  law  in  a  given  locality  had 
passed,  Davis  was  quick  to  restore  the  authority  of  the 
civil  magistrates.     Few  Southern  opponents  of  seces- 


592  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

*  sion  suffered  for  their  convictions  at  his  hands.     There 

1  were  no  "  midnight  arrests7'  in  the  South  j  and  the 
,jt  1  greatest  freedom  of  speech  prevailed.  Congress  set 
the  example  of  criticism  of  the  Executive,  and  the 
policy  of  Congress  was  in  turn  criticised  by  both  Davis 
and  Lee  from  the  beginning  of  the  war,  though  the 
President  protected  the  popularity  and  influence  of 
the  commander  of  the  armies  by  treating  his  opinions 
and  letters  as  confidential.  No  newspaper  was  sup 
pressed  in  the  South  by  order  of  the  government,  and 
three  of  the  greatest  journals  were  from  the  outset  hos 
tile  to  Davis,  indulging  almost  daily  in  the  most  un 
seemly  abuse.  Nothing  he  did  pleased  them  and  his 
acts  were  held  up  to  ridicule  by  one  or  all  of  these  from 
1862  to  the  end  of  the  contest. 

r  One  of  the  first  difficulties  in  which  Davis  became 
j  |  involved  arose  in  connection  with  the  choice  of  officers 

\  of  the  army.  Governors  of  states  almost  dictated  the 
appointment  of  favorite  supporters,  and  public  senti 
ment  required  the  pairing  of  a  Democrat  with  an 
" original"  Whig1  in  the  nomination  of  field  com 
manders.  Davis  sought  to  block  this  ill-advised  game, 
as  we  already  know,  by  giving  preference  to  men  of 
military  training  or  experience.  But  in  this  he  made 
the  mistake  of  promoting  too  many  of  his  friends. 
Thomas  F.  Drayton,  whose  removal  from  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  was  recommended  by  Lee,  was 
one  of  these  ;  another  was  General  John  C.  Pemberton, 
who,  though  he  manifested  decided  ability,  was  never 
able  to  render  the  cause  efficient  service.  On  the  other 

1  Isham  G.  Harris,  Governor  of  Tennessee  ;  Joseph  E.  Brown  of 
Georgia,  and  others  in  numerous  letters  and  telegrams  in  June  and 
July  of  1861. 


CONFEDEEATE  OPPOSITION  293 

hand,  political  considerations,  in  some  instances,  forced 
him  to  raise  influential  civilians  to  high  military  rank. 
John  B.  Floyd  was  probably  the  most  conspicuous  ex 
ample  of  this  mistaken  policy  ;  but  he  failed  ignomini- 
ously  at  the  critical  moment  at  Fort  Donelson  and  was 
removed  from  his  position  without  arousing  wide-spread 
complaint,  though  his  cause  was  championed  by  the 
Eichmond  Examiner  and  his  many  friends  in  south 
west  Virginia  urged  him  for  the  Confederate  Senate. 
This  is  but  a  single  example.  There  were  many  more, 
only  less  notable  because  the  individuals  concerned 
were  of  less  prominence. 

Another  occasion  of  discontent  was  the  differing 
views  of  the  Confederate  and  the  state  governments 
with  regard  to  the  appointment  of  company,  battalion, 
and  regimental  officers.  The  traditional  custom  was 
to  allow  private  soldiers  to  choose  their  own  officers 
except  those  of  regimental  rank  who  were  named  by 
the  governors  of  the  states.  This  practice  Lee,  with 
the  support  of  all  his  generals,  opposed,  since  it  gave 
rise  to  a  laxity  of  discipline,  inconsistent  with  the 
safety  of  the  army.  Straggling,  shirking  duty  at  crit 
ical  moments,  and  the  pillaging  of  the  people  who 
lived  in  the  regions  where  the  war  was  waged,  could 
not  be  prevented  when  the  lower  officers  recognized 
the  will  of  the  men  as  their  only  authority.  The  Com 
mander-in-chief  urged  a  change  of  policy  in  this  regard 
in  the  autumn  of  1862  ;  and  Davis  adopted  his  entirely 
reasonable  suggestions.  But  the  governors  of  the 
states  refused  to  cooperate  and  in  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia  a  spirit  of  hostility  was  aroused. 

Still  another  and  no  less  fruitful  source  of  trouble 
was  the  demand  of  each  locality  for  protection  against 


294  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

invasion.  In  Tennessee  complaint  was  made  early  in 
the  war  that  the  best  soldiers  were  sent  to  Virginia ; 
Missouri  secessionists  declared  that  Davis  was  opposed 
to  their  entrance  into  the  Confederacy,  because  he 
could  not  forward  men  and  arms  for  their  protection 
against  the  Blairs  and  John  C.  Fremont,  who  sustained 
the  Union  authority  in  that  great  state ;  North  and 
South  Carolina  charged  the  President  with  stripping 
them  of  troops  for  the  defense  of  Virginia,  when  large 
naval  armaments  were  thundering  against  their  coast 
towns  and  breaking  into  their  rich  eastern  counties  by 
way  of  the  undefended  rivers  and  inlets.  In  anticipa 
tion  of  these  complaints,  Davis  had  scattered  volunteers 
over  the  whole  territory  to  be  defended.  But  Joseph 
E.  Johnston,  whose  influence  was  very  great,  insisted 
that  all  the  forces  of  the  Confederacy  should  be  con 
centrated  at  two  points — northern  Virginia  and  west 
Tennessee.  According  to  their  interests,  their  prej 
udices,  or  the  whims  of  the  moment,  the  people 
adopted  one  or  the  other  of  these  views  and  began 
their  attacks  on  the  President  to  secure  what  they  de 
sired.  When  reverses  came,  it  was  always  the  fault 
of  the  Executive  who  had  wilfully  refused  to  listen  to 
popular  counsel ;  when  victories  were  won,  it  was  by 
the  bravery  of  the  noble  soldiers  in  the  field. 

Before  the  end  of  1862  all  these  lines  of  criticism  had 
been  pretty  well  occupied  and  the  President  had  de- 
/  cided  to  listen  to  none  but  his  chosen  advisers.  To 
encourage  the  faint-hearted  and  to  inspire  the  soldiery, 
Davis  undertook  a  journey  to  the  Southwest  on  De 
cember  10th,  three  days  before  the  expected  battle  of 
Fredericksburg.  He  left  Bichmond  incognito,  lest  his 
going  cause  a  panic  or  give  further  occasion  for  remark 


CONFEDEEATE  OPPOSITION  295 

to  his  critics.  He  traveled  in  a  special  car  via  Peters 
burg,  Lynchburg,  and  Wytheville  to  Knoxville,  where 
he  declared  in  a  public  address  that  the  i '  Toryism,  of 
east  Tennessee  had  been  greatly  exaggerated."  On 
Friday  night  he  was  serenaded  at  his  hotel  in  Mur- 
freesboro  by  a  large  and  enthusiastic  crowd.  He  re 
plied  in  an  inspiring  speech,  calling  upon  Tennesseeans 
to  aid  in  the  defense  of  their  soil  which  he  would  hold 
to  the  last  extremity.  He  said  that  he  entertained  no 
fears  for  Eichmond,  and  that  if  the  people  would  but 
arouse  themselves  and  sustain  the  conflict  a  while 
longer,  foreign  intervention  would  be  offered  which 
would  mark  the  close  of  the  war. 1 

On  the  next  day  the  question  of  forcing  into  the  army 
of  defense  the  thousands  of  Kentuckians  and  west  Ten- 
nesseeaus  who  were  "  refugeeing  "  within  the  Southern 
lines  was  presented  to  him.3  He  disapproved  the 
plan,  though  some  ill-feeling  was  manifested  among  the 
soldiers  in  reference  to  men  who  refused  to  fight  for  the 
common  cause.  After  a  formal  review  of  the  army 
under  Bragg  and  earnest  consultation  with  the  com 
manding  officers,  he  continued  his  journey  south  by 
way  of  Chattanooga,  where  he  had  a  long  conference 
with  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  whom  he  had  recently  put 
in  command  of  all  the  Western  forces.  Here  he  re 
ceived  a  telegram,  announcing  that  Burnside  was 
crossing  the  Eappahannock.  "  You  can  imagine  my 
anxiety,'7  he  wrote  his  wife;  "if  the  necessity  de 
mands,  I  will  return  to  Eichmond,  though  already 
there  are  indications  of  a  strong  desire  for  me  to  visit 
the  further  West,  expressed  in  terms  which  render  me 

1  New  York  Herald,  December  17th,  1862. 


296  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

unwilling  to  disappoint  the  expectation. ' ' '  From  Chat 
tanooga  he  went  to  Mobile,  and  thence  into  Mississippi 
where  he  made  an  address  to  the  legislature.  The 
outlook  was  discouraging :  all  western  Tennessee  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  New  Orleans,  Baton 
Eouge,  and  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  including 
the  Davis  plantations,  "Brierfield"  and  "Hurricane," 
were  held  by  Commodore  Farragut.  Vicksburg  alone 
remained  a  Confederate  stronghold  on  the  great  river. 
The  importance  of  this  point  could  hardly  be  overesti 
mated,  for  with  its  fall  the  connection  between  the  far 
Southwest  and  the  old  South  would  be  broken. 

General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  had  journeyed  with  the 
President  from  Chattanooga,  and  had  preceded  him  from 
Eichmond  by  only  a  few  days,  though  he  had  hardly 
recovered  from  his  wound  received  at  Games'  Mill.  He 
was  not  pleased  with  his  position :  he  disliked  Pem- 
berton,  the  general  in  charge  at  Yicksburg ;  and  he 
entertained  a  very  low  opinion  of  General  Bragg. 
When  he  received  his  appointment  to  the  "West,  which 
was  next  to  his  rival's  the  most  responsible  command  in 
the  Confederacy,  he  remarked  that  "with  Lee's  army 
I  could  do  something"  ;2  and  the  Examiner,  a  sort 
of  Johnston  organ,  said  there  was  no  chance  for  him 
to  succeed  where  he  was ;  that  he  had  organized  the 
army  of  Lee  and  Jackson — leaving  the  reader  to  infer 
that  he  ought  to  have  superseded  Lee  before  Freder- 
icksburg.3  Still,  he  had  been  in  long  and  friendly 
conversation  with  the  President  about  the  condition  of 
the  Southwest  and  he  remained  in  Jackson  to  hear 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  II,  p.  367. 

2  Mrs.  Davis,  personal  letter. 

3  Editorial  of  December  4,  1862. 


CONFEDERATE  OPPOSITION  297 

what  was  looked  forward  to  as  the  apology  of  the  ad 
ministration  to  that  portion  of  the  country. 

Under  these  unpromising  conditions,  Davis  rose  to 
address  his  former  constituents,  who  but  two  years  be 
fore  had  bidden  him  farewell  when  he  set  out  for 
Montgomery  to  take  up  the  responsibilities  of  his 
dangerous  office.  It  was  indeed  an  anxious  assemblage. 
He  began  by  emphasizing  his  former  love  for  the  ; 
Union.  Then  he  rehearsed  the  extraordinary  changes 
of  the  preceding  year,  admitting  that  the  war  had 
proven  far  more  serious  than  he  had  expected  ;  "but 
we  can  never,  never  reunite  with  the  North,  a  people 
whose  ascendants,"  he  unworthily  said,  " Cromwell 
had  gathered  from  the  bogs  and  fens  of  Ireland  and 
Scotland."  He  then  entered  into  a  dignified  defense 
of  his  administration  which  most  fair-minded  men  must 
have  taken  to  be  satisfactory.  The  failure  to  invade 
the  North,  the  necessity  for  the  conscript  laws,  the 
disappointing  attitude  of  Europe  were  set  forth  with  a 
frank  manliness  that  his  audience  appreciated.  On 
the  vexed  point  of  states'  rights  he  said  :  "I  hope  no 
conflict  will  arise  between  the  states  and  the  common 
cause  ;  and  if  any  state  chooses  to  inflict  such  a  blow 
by  making  conflicting  military  laws,  I  hope  Mississippi 
will  be  the  last  to  join  such  a  suicidal  policy." 
"Vicksburg,"  he  concluded,  "must  not  fall.  Hold 
this  valley  [the  Mississippi]  and  the  Northwest  will 
cease  to  support  a  war  for  the  benefit  of  New  England 
contractors." 

When  the  President  sat  down,  General  Johnston 
was  loudly  called  for.  He  responded  in  the  following 
characteristic  words:  "Fellow  citizens,  my  only  re 
gret  is  that  I  have  done  so  little  to  merit  such  a  greet- 


298  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

lug.  I  promise  you,  however,  that  hereafter  I  shall 
be  watchful,  energetic,  and  indefatigable  in  your  de 
fense."  "Tremendous,  uproarious  and  prolonged  ap 
plause,77  says  the  reporter,1  followed  this  short  speech. 
Judging  from  the  demonstrations,  the  general  was 
more  popular  than  the  President  even  in  the  latter' s 
own  state. 

From  Jackson  Davis  went  to  the  towns  along  the 
Mississippi  Eiver  up  to  the  neighborhood  of  Memphis, 
where,  according  to  one  newspaper,  he  appeared  in- 
cognito  on  December  27th.  He  returned  to  Eichmond 
via  Augusta,  Charlotte,  and  Danville  in  the  early  days 
of  the  new  year.  The  journey  had  been  intended  as  a 
stimulant  to  the  patriotism  of  the  Southwest,  though 
an  equally  compelling  motive  had  been  to  get  personal 
knowledge  of  the  conditions  in  that  unfortunate  part 
of  the  Confederacy.  General  Johnston  maintains  that 
the  purpose  was  to  confer  with  the  subordinate  com 
manders  on  the  state  of  the  country  and  the  army  and 
to  set  them  against  himself.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
Davis  doubted  the  ability  of  the  new  general-in-chief 
for  that  region,  but  he  was  still  of  the  opinion  that  he 
could  not  make  a  better  appointment. 

On  December  30th,  while  the  President  was  on  his 
return  trip,  Bragg  was  attacked  by  Eosecrans  at  Mur- 
freesboro.  A  bloody  encounter  ensued  in  which  the 
loss  on  the  Confederate  side  was  10,000  men,  on  the 
Union  13,000  ;  but  the  result  was  a  drawn  battle. 
Both  armies  bleeding  from  their  wounds  lay  opposite 
each  other  for  two  days  when  the  Confederate  general 
was  led  to  believe  that  the  enemy  was  being  heavily 
reinforced.  This  was  untrue  ;  but  he  ordered  a  re- 
1  Richmond  Dispatch,  January  5, 1863. 


CONFEDEKATE  OPPOSITION  299 

treat,  leaving  the  field  and  the  rich  region  in  the  hands 
of  his  unsuccessful  rival.  A  more  alert  commander 
with  the  same  army,  and  in  a  friendly  country,  would 
have  expelled  the  foe.  Davis  had  trusted  him  and 
hoped  that  he  would  gain  a  victory.  Twice  he  had  let 
a  fine  opportunity  slip  and  failed  to  meet  expectations. 
Bragg  disliked  Johnston  and  the  soldiers  disliked 
Bragg.  The  day  of  his  removal  was  not  distant. 
Neither  was  Pemberton  strongly  entrenched  in  the 
public  confidence ;  he  was  reproached  for  being  a 
Northerner  and  a  favorite  of  the  President.  He  was 
also  on  bad  terms  with  Johnston,  who  was,  however, 
well  liked  by  the  people  and  the  army,  though  as  un 
certain  and  slow  in  his  movements  as  he  had  been  in  N 
Virginia.  On  the  Union  side  were  the  best  of  generals  \ 
— Grant,  Sherman,  and  Thomas — with  twice  as  many 
men  in  the  ranks  as  the  Southerners  had,  and  with 
storehouses  filled  with  provisions  gathered  from  the, 
fields  and  barns  of  the  Confederacy. 

While  Davis  returned  to  his  capital  encouraged 
with  the  outlook  in  northern  Virginia  and  possibly 
still  hopeful  of  European  intervention,  he  could  not 
have  expected  much  from  the  Southwest.  He  hoped 
that  Pemberton  might  succeed  ;  but  with  an  army  of 
20,000,  that  commander  could  not  expect  to  accomplish 
anything  in  a  contest  with  Grant.  The  people  along 
the  way  had  not  manifested  enthusiasm  and  hope ; 
quiet,  undemonstrative,  and  in  none  too  large  as 
semblies  they  met  him  at  the  railway  stations.  Thus 
at  the  beginning  of  1863  the  commanders  of  the  troops 
were  at  loggerheads ;  parties  and  cliques  had  grown 
up  ;  and  the  President  was  not  implicitly  trusted  by 
the  people. 


<< 


300  JEFFEESOK  DAVIS 

But  this  was  not  the  worst.  Joseph  E.  Brown,  who 
had  commenced  his  refractory  course  in  June,  1861, 
had  brought  the  state  of  Georgia  to  a  condition  of  mind 
akin  to  open  revolt.  The  legislature,  which  elected 
Herschel  V.  Johnson  to  the  Confederate  Senate  on  a 
program  of  protest,  passed  resolutions,  expressing  its 
disapproval  of  the  conscript  law.  Johnson  addressed 
its  members  in  a  tone  of  criticism  and  Alexander 
Stephens,  who  was  present,  publicly  endorsed  the 
speech  and  privately  countenanced  the  most  serious 
opposition  to  the  President.  In  the  preceding  October 
Brown  had  written  Davis  that  "no  act  of  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  prior  to  the  secession  of 
Georgia  had  struck  a  blow  at  constitutional  liberty  so 
fell  as  has  been  stricken  by  the  conscript  acts.  .  .  . 
The  people  of  Georgia  will  refuse  to  yield  their  sover 
eignty  to  usurpation."  l 
f  In  the  more  aristocratic  portion  of  South  Carolina 
the  influence  of  Davis' s  opponents  was  still  supreme. 
sThe  Mercury  continued  to  call  for  energy  in  the  Con- 
/:'  ^federate  authorities.  The  senior  Ehett  was  in  Colum- 
Ibia  doing  what  he  could  as  a  member  of  the  state  con- 
"vention,  still  in  session,  to  bring  the  President  into 
1  contempt,  even  suggesting  impeachment  as  the  only 
\  way  to  rid  the  Confederacy  of  its  incubus.  The  friends 
of  Ehett  had  already  planned  a  convention  of  the 
Confederate  states  to  depose  Davis.2  The  journey 
to  Mississippi  was  not  favorably  regarded  and  the 
doubtful  attitude  of  the  public  mind  in  the  home  of 
secession  was  very  likely  the  reason  he  did  not  visit  Sa 
vannah  and  Charleston  according  to  his  original  plan. 

1  Official  Records,  Series  IV,  Vol.  II,  p.  131. 

2  Charleston  Courier,  May  22,  1862. 


CONFEDERATE  OPPOSITION  301 

The  Bhetts  and  Joseph  E.  Brown  had  been  and  were 
intense  states'  rights  dogmatists  ;  they  also  had  a  show 
of  excuse  for  their  dislike  of  Davis.  But  Governor 
Vance  of  North  Carolina  offered  an  even  more  effec 
tive  hostility  to  the  administration  of  the  Confederacy. 
Having  made  his  reputation  as  an  opponent  of  state 
sovereignty,  he  could  not  well  stand  upon  another  plat 
form  on  this  occasion.  Neither  had  he  been  set  aside 
in  the  early  history  of  the  Confederacy  and  left  a 
stranded  politician.  He  was  ready  now  to  fulfil  the 
promises  of  his  election  and  he  resisted  from  the  day 
of  his  inauguration  many  of  the  important  and  neces 
sary  laws  of  the  Eichmond  government.  In  Novem 
ber,  1862,  in  his  able  address  to  the  legislature  he  held 
up  to  scorn  the  "  Confederate  officer  who  refused  to 
permit  the  execution  of  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  within 
his  camp.'7  He  deprecated  the  President's  power  to 
suspend  the  sacred  writ :  "I  can  see  but  little  good, 
but  a  vast  tide  of  inflowing  evil  from  these  inordinate 
stretches  of  military  power  which  are  fast  disgracing 
us  equally  with  our  Northern  enemies."  He  struck  a 
chord  in  the  popular  heart,  although  he  must  have 
known  that  Lee's  opinion  was  to  the  contrary,  when 
he  said  :  "It  is  mortifying  to  find  entire  brigades  of 
North  Carolina  soldiers  in  the  field  commanded  by 
strangers,  and  in  many  cases  our  own  brave  and  war 
worn  colonels  are  made  to  give  place  to  colonels  from 
distant  states."  '  States'  rights  from  this  time  forward 
remained  the  mud-sill  of  Vance's  Confederate  policy. 
A  new  convert  always  makes  the  best  inquisitor-gen 
eral. 

He  who  but  half  understood  the  meaning  of  this  dis- 
1  Official  Records,  Series  IV,  Vol.  II,  pp.  188-190. 


302  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

affection  and  discontent  in  the  early  days  of  1863, 
when  Lee's  great  victories  were  still  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  men,  must  have  foreseen  the  final  outcome.  A 
country  with  all  its  harbors  blockaded  and  penetrated 
by  large  and  well  organized  armies,  under  the  com 
mand  of  resolute  generals,  can  hope  to  escape  subjuga 
tion  and  ruin  only  by  united  and  heroic  resistance. 
While  there  was  heroism  enough  in  the  South  at  this 
period,  there  was  anything  but  harmony  in  counsel. 
Davis  did  not  admit,  at  least  so  far  as  the  published 
record  shows,  that  he  apprehended  disaster  from  this 
source  or  from  any  other.  He  entered  at  once  into 
conferences  with  Lee,  looking  to  the  expulsion  of  the 
Union  army  from  northern  Virginia,  knowing  full  well 
that  if  success  crowned  his  great  plans  and  devoted 
efforts,  even  his  most  bitter  opponents  would  hasten  to 
congratulate  him  and  claim  a  share  in  the  glorious  re 
sult.  Thus  had  it  been  with  Washington  ;  thus  will 
it  always  be  with  men  who  lead  forlorn  hopes  to 
victory. 


CHAPTEE  XIX 

THE  CRISIS  OF  THE  WAR 

DAVIS  returned  to  Eichmond  to  prepare  his  message 
to  Congress,  which  was  about  to  assemble.  The  hopes 
of  the  South  were  high,  the  news  of  Murfreesboro  caus 
ing  hardly  any  uneasiness  to  the  great  majority  who 
were  now  becoming  convinced  that  Lee  was  invincible. 
In  the  North  the  hopes  of  the  extremists  had  been 
raised  to  a  high  pitch  by  the  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion,  only  to  be  dashed  to  the  ground  by  Fredericks- 
burg.  The  Union  army  was  ready  to  mutiny  ;  Burn- 
side  prepared,  nevertheless,  to  lead  the  soldiers  in 
another  hopeless  charge  against  Lee's  right,  but  was 
restrained  by  the  anxious  Lincoln.  The  general  then 
went  to  Washington  and  recommended  the  removal  of 
Halleck  and  Stantou,  both  of  whom  had,  in  his 
opinion,  lost  the  esteem  of  the  country.  He  himself 
proposed  to  retire  to  private  life.  A  cabinet  crisis  was 
on.  Congress  was  ready  to  vote  a  lack  of  confidence 
in  the  administration,  but,  after  bitter  discussion  and 
many  misgivings,  it  remained  intact. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  recent  proclamation 
was  not  apt  to  cause  great  uneasiness  at  the  South. 
The  North  would  have  forgotten  the  ill-timed  manifesto 
but  for  the  revilings  of  its  own  discontented  editors. 
Davis  referred  to  it  contemptuously  in  his  message  of 
January  12th,  while  the  negroes  continued  their  servile 
labor  as  though  no  proclamation  had  been  issued. 


304  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

President  Lincoln's  order  of  January  1st,  designed  to 
make  effective  the  decree  of  the  preceding  September, 
fell  flat  for  the  time.  All  men  recognized  more  fully 
than  ever  that  the  promises  of  both  sides  were  depend 
ent  upon  the  armies  in  the  field — and  there  Lee  was  the 
master. 

As  a  last  but  not  satisfactory  resort,  General  Hooker 
was  appointed  to  lead  the  march  to  Richmond.  He 
had  served  well  at  Antietam  and  his  corps  had  sus 
tained  heavy  losses  at  Fredericksburg.  He  bore  the 
sobriquet  of  "Fighting  Joe,"  and  he  was  the  fifth 
general  successively  appointed  to  this  task.  Before 
the  winter  had  passed,  the  discontented  subordinate  of 
Burnside  had  checked  the  demoralization  of  the  army 
of  invasion  and  reestablished  discipline  and  confi 
dence.  On  the  Confederate  side,  however,  a  change  of 
policy  in  the  War  Department,  approved  by  the  Presi 
dent  to  satisfy  popular  clamor,  deprived  Lee  of  a  large 
part  of  Longstreet's  corps  and  D.  H.  Hill's  division, 
which  were  sent  to  the  defense  of  Suffolk,  120  miles 
away.  This  left  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  unable 
to  carry  out  a  plan  which  Lee  had  been  revolving ; 
namely,  of  opening  the  campaign  a  second  time  in 
western  Maryland.  He  therefore  quietly  awaited  the 
development  of  Hooker's  strategy.  This  became  evi 
dent  in  the  last  days  of  April.  It  was  to  turn  Lee's 
left  flank,  seize  his  communications  with  Richmond  and 
force  another  battle,  or  an  "  ignominious  retreat"  on 
the  Confederate  capital,  as  Hooker  declared  in  his  ad 
dress  to  his  troops  at  Chancellorsville.  The  Union 
general  commanded  110,000  men  ;  Lee  60,000  at  most, 
and  Longstreet  was  absent.  Jackson,  however,  was 
closer  than  ever  to  his  chief  and  right  well  did  they 


THE  CBISIS  OF  THE  WAB  305 

work  together  on  that  fatal  field.  The  Confederate 
leaders,  on  May  1st,  entangled  their  antagonist  in  the 
Wilderness,  where  he  held  himself  on  the  defensive, 
confident  of  victory.  At  3:30  A.  M.  of  May  2d,  a  pri 
vate  road  leading  to  the  extreme  Federal  right  was 
discovered.  This  point  had  not  been  well  fortified. 
Jackson  proposed  to  go  at  once  and  fall  on  it  unex 
pectedly.  He  took  26, 000  men  on  the  risky  march, 
while  Lee  remained  in  front  to  entertain  the  enemy 
with  the  idea  that  the  main  onslaught  was  to  be  made 
there.  Screened  by  the  dense  forests,  Jackson  was 
able  to  carry  out  his  bold  design.  At  6  o'clock  p.  M., 
he  struck  with  irresistible  fury  at  Hooker's  left  and 
was  doubling  up  the  enemy's  line  after  the  fashion  of 
Frederick  the  Great,  when  he  fell  mortally  wounded  at 
the  hands  of  his  own  men  who  were  acting  in  obedi 
ence  to  his  orders.  The  battle  continued,  but  not  with 
Jacksonian  vigor,  and  on  the  morrow  the  Federals  re 
covered  from  their  surprise.  Hooker  was,  however, 
unwilling  to  take  the  offensive.  Fighting  and  ma- 
no3uvring  for  position  continued  until  the  6th,  when 
the  Northern  army  retreated,  leaving  the  field  to  Lee. 
The  Confederates  lost  13,000  men  besides  Jackson  in 
this  series  of  conflicts  ;  the  Federals,  17,000. 

Without  "  Stonewall"  and  the  many  brave  men  who 
had  fallen  in  these  sad  days,  Lee  and  Davis  arranged 
for  a  second  invasion  of  the  North.  Long-street  re 
turned  and  fresh  recruits  were  put  into  the  vacant 
places  of  this  heroic  army,  which  was  now  reorgan 
ized  and  divided  into  three  corps  under  this  general, 
Ewell,  and  A.  P.  Hill ;  each  corps  was  in  turn  made 
up  of  three  divisions  under  leaders,  like  Gordon,  Pick- 
ett,  and  Pettigrew,  who  were  scarcely  inferior  to  their 


306  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

commanders.  The  morale  of  the  troops  was  as  good  as 
that  which  enabled  Napoleon  to  gain  so  many  victories  j 
and  the  enthusiasm  and  confidence  of  the  people 
in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  have  never  been 
equaled  in  the  history  of  American  warfare.  Lee 
himself  felt  a  quiet  assurance  of  victory  which  caused 
him  to  expect  eminent  success  on  Northern  soil,  where 
Northern  citizenry  would  have  to  bear  some  of  the  ills 
of  contending  armies.  Indeed,  the  commander-in- 
chief  was  so  confident  and  hopeful  that  his  corps  gen 
erals  feared  he  might  risk  all  in  a  rash  attack,  and 
tried  to  exact  from  him  a  promise  not  to  engage 
the  enemy  except  upon  grounds  of  his  own  choos 
ing.1 

When  the  plan  of  invading  Pennsylvania  was  laid 
before  Davis  by  Lee  in  person  about  the  middle  of 
May,  he  hesitated.  There  were  many  considerations 
to  be  reviewed.  In  the  Southwest,  Johnston,  Bragg, 
and  Pemberton  were  each  and  all  outnumbered  and 
without  prospect  of  reinforcements  of  a  reliable  char 
acter.  Vicksburg,  the  one  connecting  link  between  the 
East  and  the  West,  was  closely  besieged  ;  and  Jackson, 
the  capital  of  Mississippi,  had  already  fallen.  Bragg 
lay  before  Chattanooga  unable  to  move  with  safety 
against  Eosecrans,  whose  headquarters  were  at  Mur- 
freesboro.  Davis  inclined  to  the  view  that  assistance 
ought  to  be  sent  from  Virginia,  either  to  Bragg  or 
Johnston.  General  Longstreet  suggested  to  Lee  the 
feasibility  of  forwarding  an  army  corps  to  Bragg, 
which  would  enable  him  to  defeat  Eosecrans  and 
march  toward  Fort  Pillow  and  Island  No.  10,  thereby 
forcing  Grant  to  raise  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  and  fight 
1  Longstreet,  From  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  p.  331. 


THE  CEISIS  OF  THE  WAE  307 

for  his  communications.1  This  would  weaken  Lee  at 
Fredericksburg,  leaving  him  to  conduct  a  defensive  cam 
paign  against  an  army  almost  treble  his  own  in  num 
bers  j  and  it  was  feared  that  he  might  be  beaten  and 
Richmond  fall  as  a  consequence.  The  people  of  Mis 
sissippi  and  Tennessee  were  clamoring  for  relief  and 
Johnston  was  urging  on  the  War  Department  the  con 
centration  of  the  forces  in  the  Southwest  against  Grant 
or  Eosecraus.  He  declared  that  by  sacrificing  Missis 
sippi,  Tennessee  might  be  saved  or  vice  versa,  but  that 
both  would  be  lost  in  the  attempt  to  hold  both.  Davis 
was  undecided  what  to  do. 

Finally,  Lee's  plan  was  accepted  as  an  indirect  way  of 
saving  both  Vicksburg  and  Chattanooga,  and  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  the  determining  influence  was 
the  fact  that  on  the  shoulders  of  the  trusted  com- 
mander-in-chief  would  rest  the  great  responsibility  of 
success.  The  movement  into  Pennsylvania  would  draw 
the  Union  forces  out  of  Virginia,  cause  Eosecrans  and 
Grant  to  hesitate  in  their  forward  movements  and  at 
the  same  time  satisfy  the  clamor  of  certain  elements  in 
the  South  for  an  invasion  of  the  North.  Besides  Lee's 
presence  in  the  Cumberland  or  Susquehanna  Valley, 
it  was  falsely  argued,  would  greatly  aid  the  peace 
party  at  the  North. 

On  June  3d,  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  began 
its  march.  Lee  gave  strict  orders  against  the  maltreat 
ment  of  non-combatants  and  caused  payment  to  be 
made  for  whatever  supplies  might  be  required  for  the 
troops.  One  of  the  chief  purposes  of  the  invasion 
would  have  been  sacrificed  if  the  people  of  the 
North  were  embittered  by  the  ruthless  conduct  of  a 
1  Longstreet,  From  Manassas  to  Appomattox,  p.  331, 


308  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

marauding  army.  Filled  with  the  notion  of  forcible 
reconciliation,  Lee  wrote  the  Confederate  President  a 
long  and  carefully  prepared  letter  which  was  little 
less  than  a  sharp  rebuke.  Davis  had  said  repeatedly 
that  reunion  with  the  North  was  unthinkable.1  Lee 
wrote  in  effect  that  such  assertions,  which  out  of  respect 
for  the  Executive  he  charged  against  the  press,  were 
,  short-sighted  in  the  extreme.  The  South,  he  thought, 
should  encourage  the  idea  that  peace  might  bring  a 
restoration  of  the  Union  in  order  to  increase  the  num 
ber  of  those  in  the  North  who  were  laboring  for  that 
end.  "  If  we  once  receive  overtures  for  a  cessation  of 
hostilities,"  he  argued,  "we  can  then  fight  as  stanchly 
for  entire  and  final  separation  as  we  have  been  doing 
with  arms  in  our  hands. "  2  A  week  later  Lee  ree'm- 
phasized  the  importance  of  this  worldly-wise  policy. 
There  is  no  record  of  a  reply  by  Davis,  though  the 
Bichmond  newspapers  ceased  temporarily  to  declare 
the  utter  impossibility  of  reunion  on  any  terms. 

While  the  army  concentrated  in  southern  Pennsyl 
vania,  the  various  subsidiary  commands  in  Virginia 
were  instructed  by  Lee  to  march  northward  to  posi 
tions  which  had  been  vacated.  These  movements 
greatly  annoyed  the  Confederate  authorities  in  Bich 
mond,  lest  a  sudden  attack  be  made  from  Norfolk  or 
Fortress  Monroe.  D.  H.  Hill,  who  was  holding 
Petersburg  and  the  James,  and  Whiting,  who  com 
manded  in  eastern  North  Carolina,  refused  to  give  up 
regiments  in  support  of  Lee's  plans,  fearing  of  course 
serious  attacks  from  the  enemy.  President  Davis  did 

1  In  the  address  before  the  Mississippi  legislature  and  in  recent 
messages  to  Congress. 

2  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XX  VII,  Part  III,  p.  881. 


THE  CEISIS  OF  THE  WAE  309 

not  compel  obedience  to  Lee's  wishes  in  these  smaller 
details  and  strongly  hinted  both  directly  and  indirectly 
that  a  regiment  of  cavalry  should  be  detached  from 
the  main  army  and  sent  to  Eichmond.  This  sugges 
tion  was  declined. 

Anxiously  the  President  watched  the  signs  in  the 
North  and  read  the  dispatches  of  Lee  as  the  time  for 
the  great  encounter  approached.  By  the  last  days  of 
June,  the  advance  divisions  had  approached  Harris- 
burg,  producing  the  utmost  consternation  in  that  cap 
ital,  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  New  York.  On  the  28th, 
the  news  of  Meade's  coming '  caused  the  Confeder 
ates  to  concentrate  in  the  neighborhood  of  Gettysburg. 
But  Stuart  had  failed  to  obey  orders  strictly  and  was 
out  of  reach.  This  seriously  embarrassed  Lee.  On 
July  1st,  the  two  armies  began  in  a  tentative  way  the 
greatest  conflict  of  the  war.  The  advantage  remained 
with  the  Confederates  ;  and  Lee  decided  to  continue 
the  attack  on  the  morrow,  which  was  contrary  to  what 
Long-street  regarded  as  the  understanding  between  the 
commander-in-chief  and  his  lieutenants,  as  it  was  con 
trary  also  to  Lee's  preferences.  But  the  latter  was 
nervous  because  of  Stuart's  continued  absence  and  a 
little  annoyed  at  the  hesitancy  of  Longstreet  who  pro 
posed  another  plan  of  battle.  Here  was  evinced  at 
the  crucial  point  the  fatal  error  of  allowing  too  much 
freedom  to  corps  commanders.  Lee's  own  limitations 
as  a  great  military  chieftain  were  also  in  evidence. 
Unlike  Frederick  the  Great  at  Eossbach  and  Napoleon 
at  Austerlitz,  he  attacked  his  enemy  lira  strong  position 
when  defeat  meant  disaster.  With  the  advantages 


1  Meade  had  succeeded  Hooker  in  the  command  of  the  Union 
army. 


310  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

which  Lee  possessed  over  his  less  experienced  antago 
nist,  he  ought  easily  to  have  drawn  him  from  his 
stronghold  and  defeated  him.  But  this  was  not  done. 
The  Confederates  attacked  with  greater  resolution  on 
the  2d,  and  were  again  fairly  successful. 

So  the  battle  was  renewed  on  July  3d,  but  without 
cooperation  and  mutual  support  among  the  corps  and 
division  commanders.  The  fighting  was  terrible  in  the 
forenoon  and  the  losses  heavy  ;  but  the  decisive  work 
began  when  Longstreet  moved  against  the  Federal  left 
at  4  P.  M.  The  artillery  had  been  firing  steadily  since 
one  o'clock  to  no  serious  purpose  but  the  waste  of 
ammunition  ;  when  Pickett's  division  of  Longstreet' s 
corps  made  its  famous  charge,  the  artillery  ceased 
firing  and  was  not  drawn  up  to  support  the  movement  ; 
the  big  guns  remained  silent  during  the  fearful  carnage. 
Night  closed  the  scene  and  Lee  withdrew,  having  sus 
tained  a  loss  of  20, 000  men  in  the  prolonged  attack  ; 
Meadelost23,000. 

Eetreat  a  second  time  from  Northern  soil  was  now 
absolutely  necessary.  This  was  done  in  excellent  or 
der,  although  the  rivers  had  risen  on  account  of  heavy 
rains  since  the  Confederate  advance.  Meade  put  no 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  beaten  foe,  appearing  to  be 
amply  satisfied  with  the  great  results  already  attained. 
President  Lincoln  was  aroused  to  anger  by  this  delay  ; 
but  he  did  not  remove  his  new  general.  The  North 
was  elated  and  proud  enough  of  Meade  as  he  was. 

They  had  occasion  to  rejoice  on  that  Fourth  of  July, 
for  Grant  telegraphed  that  Yicksburg  was  in  his  hands 
and  with  it  nearly  40,000  prisoners  of  war.  With 
Lee  defeated  and  hastening  back  to  Virginia,  the 
Mississippi  moving  on  "un vexed  to  the  sea,"  and 


THE  CEISIS  OF  THE  WAE  311 

Chattanooga,  the  centre  of  the  long  line,  in  imminent 
peril,  the  war  did  indeed  appear  almost  at  an  end. 
Mr.  Ehodes  says1  that  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg 
ought  to  have  closed  the  struggle. 

The  Southerners  did  not  think  thus ;  their  news 
papers  and  public  speakers  everywhere  denied  that  a 
decisive  blow  had  been  sustained  in  Pennsylvania. 
Late  in  August  the  belligerent  Charleston  Mercury  de 
clared  that  a  great  victory  had  been  won  and  advised 
the  immediate  seizure  of  Washington.  In  Eichmond 
the  resolute  temper  of  the  people  was  equally  patent, 
though  Confederate  money  was  refused  by  Virginia 
farmers  and  gold  was  worth  twenty  times  as  much  as 
paper  currency.  Lee  was  so  discouraged  with  the  re 
sults  that  he  offered  his  resignation,2  which  Davis 
promptly  declined.  "  Suppose,  my  dear  friend,"  the 
latter  wrote  under  date  of  August  llth,  i  i  that  I  were 
to  admit,  with  all  their  implications,  the  points  which 
you  present,  where  am  I  to  find  that  new  commander 
who  is  to  possess  the  greater  ability  which  you  believe 
to  be  required  ?  I  do  not  doubt  the  readiness  with 
which  you  would  give  way  to  one  who  could  accom 
plish  all  that  you  have  wished,  and  you  will  do  me 
the  justice  to  believe  that,  if  Providence  should  kindly 
offer  such  a  person  for  our  use,  I  would  not  hesitate  to 
avail  of  his  services.  To  ask  me  to  substitute  you  by 
some  one  in  my  judgment  more  fit  to  command,  or 
who  would  possess  more  of  the  confidence  of  the  army, 
or  of  reflecting  men  in  the  country,  is  to  demand  an 
impossibility.  It  only  remains  for  me  to  hope  that 
you  will  take  all  possible  care  of  yourself,  that  your 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV,  p.  319. 

2  Memoir,  Vol.  II,  p.  393. 


V 


312  JEFEEESON  DAVIS 

health  and  strength  may  be  entirely  restored,  and  that 
the  Lord  will  preserve  you  for  the  important  duties 
devolved  upon  you  in  the  struggle  of  our  suffering 
country  for  the  independence  which  we  have  engaged 
in  war  to  maintain. " 

With  sorrowing  but  resolute  heart,  this  man  of  iron 
will  set  himself  to  repair  the  almost  irreparable  losses. 
At  each  end  of  the  long  line  of  defense  the  Confederates 
had  sustained  crushing  defeats.  Lee  retreated  to  the 
classic  ground  of  northern  Virginia  with  an  army 
which,  unlike  Burnside's  after  Fredericksburg,  still 
had  the  utmost  confidence  in  its  leader ;  "  Joe  "  Johns 
ton  retired  from  the  country  around  Vicksburg  after 
the  loss  of  the  major  portion  of  his  troops  in  that 
region.  The  next  blow  was  to  be  struck  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Chattanooga,  where  Bosecrans  was  receiv 
ing  reinforcements  every  day.  If  the  Confederacy 
failed  here,  its  downfall  was  well-nigh  certain. 

Davis  turned  with  more  anxiety  than  ever  to  Bragg, 
hoping  against  hope  that  the  god  of  battles  might 
finally  crown  that  uncertain  general  with  victory.  But 
Bragg  was  hardly  sanguine  himself.  His  prestige  had 
received  a  severe  blow  by  his  failure,  in  September, 
1862,  to  regain  Kentucky,  when  the  chances  were  so 
favorable.  At  Murfreesboro  he  lost  still  more,  though 
his  men  fought  like  demons.  Now  his  officers  had 
little  confidence  in  his  ability  to  lead  an  army ;  and 
between  him  and  Johnston,  his  superior  in  rank,  there 
were  jealousy  and  bitterness  which  must  inevitably  end 
in  disaster.  However,  the  Confederate  President  had 
not  been  influenced  against  his  favorite.  Many  of  Johns 
ton' s  troops  were  hurried  now  to  Chattanooga  ;  Long- 
street  was  sent  on  the  long  journey  to  have  a  hand  in 


THE  CEISIS  OF  THE  WAE  313 

the  inevitable  conflict ;  and  Buckner,  of  Kentucky,  led 
his  little  army  to  the  assistance  of  Bragg.  The  people 
met  in  their  churches  and  prayed  for  victory  ;  the 
clergy  encouraged  them  to  hope  for  deliverance. 

On  the  Northern  side  there  was  also  much  interest 
in  the  issue.  Sherman  and  Thomas  were  hurried  for 
ward  to  Eosecrans  with  their  corps  of  well-seasoned 
troops,  while  Burnside  with  his  Army  of  the  Ohio, 
seized  Kuoxville  as  a  preliminary  to  the  attack  upon 
the  Confederates  and  to  bar  the  way  of  Longstreet 
southward.  Sixteen  thousand  men  were  taken  from 
Meade,  now  at  Culpeper  Court  House  in  Virginia, 
and  sent  via  Wheeling,  through  Ohio  and  Kentucky, 
to  Nashville,  whence  they  hastened  on  to  Chattanooga. 
Eosecrans — a  general  of  the  Joseph  E.  Johnston  class 
— was  slow  to  begin  the  dangerous  advance,  realizing 
the  full  weight  of  responsibility  resting  upon  his  timid 
shoulders.  He  moved  cautiously  toward  the  Tennessee 
Eiver,  which  lay  between  him  and  the  Confederates ; 
he  deceived  Bragg  as  to  his  point  of  crossing  and  in 
the  early  days  of  September  found  his  army  safe  on  the 
east  side  of  that  difficult  stream.  He  now  had  Chatta 
nooga  in  his  hands;  with  the  defeat  of  the  Confed 
erates  at  this  point,  he  could  easily  penetrate  the  very 
heart  of  the  lower  South. 

Bragg  was  able  by  ruse  and  shrewd  manoeuvres  to 
draw  his  opponent  after  him  in  detail  and  then  give 
battle  on  his  own  ground,  having  been  joined  by 
Longstreet' s  veterans.  The  Federals  were  compelled 
to  fight  in  the  Chickamauga  Valley  some  miles  south 
of  Chattanooga.  On  the  18th  of  September  the  issue 
was  joined,  and  Bragg  gained  some  advantage  on  his 
right.  He  expected  on  the  morrow  to  break  the  ene- 


314  JEFFEKSOX  DAVIS 

ray's  communications  with  Chattanooga  and  the  North 
and,  holding  his  own  left  firmly  in  hand,  surround 
Eosecrans  and  force  a  surrender.  But  Thomas,  who 
was  stationed  on  a  ridge  on  the  Union  left,  could  not 
be  moved  j  he  held  this  strategic  point  with  great 
tenacity  and  against  the  fiercest  attack.  The  Confed- 
ferates  failed  once  more  to  act  with  promptness  and  the 
I  proper  cooperation  among  the  different  commands  was 
^wanting.  On  the  20th,  it  was  planned  to  open  the  as 
sault  on  the  Union  right  at  sunrise,  but  both  Polk  and 
D.  H.  Hill,  like  Longstreet  at  Gettysburg,  failed  to  be 
in  place.  Delay  gave  the  advantage  to  the  enemy, 
who  had  been  expecting  the  battle  to  begin  on  their 
left.  Yet  at  ten  o'  clock  the  work  went  forward  and 
late  in  the  day  Longstreet  swept  the  Federal  right  be 
fore  him.  A  general  and  complete  Union  disaster  was 
averted  only  by  the  steady  bravery  of  Thomas  and  his 
corps.  But  even  he  would  have  been  forced  to  yield 
or  be  captured  had  Longstreet  and  Bragg  been  able  to 
cooperate  cordially.  The  latter  failed  to  act  on  the 
former's  better  knowledge  of  the  situation  and  showed 
some  pride  of  rank  besides,  thus  enabling  Thomas  to 
save  the  major  portion  of  his  superior's  army  from 
destruction.  He  retired  quietly  at  night  from  his  ex 
posed  position  and  on  the  21st,  the  Union  troops  were 
safe  in  Chattanooga.  The  Federals  lost  the  field  and 
16,000  men,  while  the  Confederates  only  held  the 
ground  they  had  never  quite  given  up  with  a  loss  of 
20,000.* 

The  Federal  government  was  bitterly  disappointed  ; 
and  the  people  were  losing  faith  in  their  President. 
Volunteering  almost  ceased  ;  and  in  New  York,  Ohio, 
1  Wood  and  Edmonds,  pp.  282,  285. 


THE  CEISIS  OF  THE  WAE  315 

and  Indiana,  stern  resistance  was  offered  to  the  drafting 
system.  Eosecrans' s  army  was  starving  in  Chatta 
nooga,  cut  off  as  it  was  from  the  source  of  supplies  in 
all  but  a  single  direction.  Stanton  grew  uneasy  ;  sent 
for  Grant,  who  met  him  near  Louisville  ;  and  together 
they  planned  for  the  safety  of  their  depleted  army  of 
the  West. 

Davis  saw  the  situation  clearly;  he  was  not  elated 
at  the  result.     He  heard  that  Bragg  could  not  control 
his  officers  and  men,  to  say  nothing  of  taking  the 
initiative  against  the  starving  enemy.     He  traveled 
once  more  to  the  seat  of  hostilities  in  the  Southwest. 
Leaving  Eichmond  on  October  9th,  he  reached  the 
general  about  the  15th.     The  President  did  what 
could  to  compose  the  long-standing  quarrels  of  the .  j 
officers,  but  with  meagre  success. 

Going  southward  from  this  point,  he  addressed 
the  people  in  Selma,  Ala.,  calling  upon  the  "  non- 
conscripts"  to  volunteer  to  do  garrison  duty  and 
thereby  release  the  necessary  recruits  for  the  armies 
in  the  field.  "Thus  we  can  crush  Eosecrans  and 
be  ready  with  the  return  of  spring  to  drive  the 
enemy  from  our  borders.  The  defeat  of  Eosecrans 
will  practically  end  the  war."  But  the  enthusiasm  of 
former  years  was  conspicuously  absent.  A  sort  of 
apathy  seems  to  have  settled  down  upon  the  country. 
At  Mobile,  Davis  was  not  more  successful  in  arousing 
the  war  spirit  than  he  had  been  elsewhere,  though 
there  was  no  lack  of  determination  in  the  little  army 
assembled  for  the  defense  of  that  important  harbor. 
Eeturning  through  western  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and 
Georgia,  he  decided  to  beard  the  lion  in  his  den  and 
address  the  people  of  Charleston.  On  the  first  of 


316  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

November,  he  made  an  eloquent  speech  from  the 
steps  of  the  fine  old  city  hall  which,  despite  the  ab 
sence  of  the  Ehett  sympathizers  and  the  cold  criticism 
of  the  Mercury,  was  not  without  effect  on  that  ardent 
community.  He  reached  Eichmond  on  November  6th, 
only  to  receive  information  that  the  bad  temper  and 
ugly  wrangling  among  Bragg' s  subordinates  continued 
as  before. 

Still  Bragg  held  the  key  to  Eosecrans's  position — 
Lookout  Mountain  ;  from  which  point  he  ought  to  have 
been  able  to  force  the  evacuation  of  the  city  or  the 
surrender  of  the  entire  army.  This  advantage  was  not 
improved.  Late  in  October,  Grant,  on  succeeding  to 
the  command  of  all  the  Union  forces  in  the  Southwest, 
visited  Chattanooga  and  ordered  the  seizure  of  a  por 
tion  of  Lookout  Valley.  He  built  a  bridge  across  the 
Tennessee  in  the  face  of  the  Confederates  which  was 
held  against  all  attack,  and  which  enabled  the  Union 
army  to  procure  supplies  without  serious  difficulty. 
This  occurred  while  Davis  was  still  in  the  South.  It 
added  greatly  to  the  unpopularity  of  Bragg.  Three 
weeks  later  Grant  and  Thomas,  after  a  prolonged 
struggle,  drove  the  Confederate  from  his  position  and 
forced  a  retreat,  which  began  on  November  25th,  to 
Dalton,  Ga.,  thirty  miles  southward.  Here  he  re 
mained  until  spring,  when  Sherman  began  his  famous 
operations. 

These  reverses  forced  the  President  to  remove  Bragg. 
He  offered  the  position  to  General  Hardee,  a  success 
ful  corps  commander  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh  in  1862, 
apparently  without  consulting  Joseph  E.  Johnston, 
which  only  added  to  the  personal  animus  of  that 
general.  Hardee  refused  the  dangerous  honor  and  on 


THE  CEISIS  OF  THE  WAR  317 

December  16th,  iTohuston  was  asked  to  take  charge  of 
the  oft-defeated  but  still  resolute  army.  With  Lee  on 
the  defensive  in  northern  Virginia ;  the  Mississippi 
Eiver  open  ;  and  the  whole  of  Tennessee,  with  most  of 
Mississippi  state  and  part  of  Alabama  and  Georgia  in 
Federal  control,  the  outlook  for  the  devoted  supporters 
of  the  Confederacy  was  dark  indeed. 

The  contemplation  of  such  losses,  with  a  full  realiza 
tion  that  his  popularity  was  waning,  furnished  small 
consolation  even  to  the  stout  heart  of  Davis.  The 
people  had  rejoiced  for  awhile  after  receiving  the  news 
of  Chickamauga,  only  to  realize  in  Missionary  Eidge 
that  they  had  "celebrated"  prematurely.  The  steady 
rise  in  the  prices  of  the  necessaries  of  life  produced  on 
Southern  farms  or  in  Southern  shops  is  a  fair  barometer 
of  the  popular  feeling.  Bacon  sold  in  Eichmond  on 
December  1st,  for  $3.50  per  pound,  wheat  for  $15  per 
bushel,  boots  for  $100  per  pair  ;  a  gold  dollar  was  worth 
twenty-eight  dollars  in  Confederate  currency.1  Men 
took  grim  courage  in  the  approach  of  winter,  though 
firewood  in  the  towns  cost  $19  per  cord,  and  longed 
for  foreign  intervention  or  the  powerful  hand  of  a 
dictator. 

1A  Rebel  War  Clerk's  Diary,  Vol.  II,  entries  for  the  early  days 
of  December. 


, 


CHAPTEE  XX 

THE  CONFLICT  DRAWS  TO  A  CLOSE 

WITH  the  failure  of  Lee  in  Pennsylvania  and  the 
loss  to  the  Confederates  of  the  region  around  Chatta 
nooga,  the  crisis  of  the  war  passed.  From  this  time 
forward  the  chances  of  success  for  Davis  and  his  lieu 
tenants  consisted  in  the  possibility  of  wearing  out  the 
patience  of  the  Northern  people.  Decisive  military 
victory,  such  as  Lee  had  hoped  for  at  Second  Manassas 
or  Chancellorsville,  was  now  out  of  the  question ; 
the  struggle  was  to  be  concluded  by  the  ablest  strate 
gists  and  military  politicians  in  the  country.  Great 
blunders  were  unlikely  now. 

General  Grant  became  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Union  forces  in  November,  1863.  After  entrusting 
the  affairs  of  the  Southwest  to  Thomas  and  Sherman, 
both  professional  soldiers  of  wide  experience,  he  took 
charge  in  person  of  the  veteran  Army  of  the  Potomac 
at  the  beginning  of  spring  in  1864.  He  had  120,000 
men ;  Lee  had  60,000.  Both  generals  were  popular 
in  their  respective  sections  and  more  popular  in  their 
armies,  though  in  both  these  respects  the  Southern 
was  superior  to  the  Union  leader.  Each  side  expected 
to  win  ;  and  the  material  in  each  army  was  of  the  best 
quality,  the  Confederates  probably  enjoying  a  slight 
advantage.  When  the  weather  became  clear,  the  se 
verest  conflicts  of  the  war  would  certainly  begin. 

Sherman,   with    100,000    men,   was  confronted  by 


THE  CONFLICT  DRAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     319 

Joseph  E.  Johnston  in  northern  Georgia  with  53,000. 
Here,  too,  the  soldiers  were  veterans  and  their  com 
manders  of  the  highest  character.  Thus  the  lifelong 
rivals,  Lee  and  Johnston,  held  the  strategic  positions 
at  the  opening  of  the  last  year  of  the  war.  Was  it 
possible  for  them  to  save  their  country  at  this  late 
hour?  The  answer  depended  on  the  ability  of  the 
Confederate  President  to  supply  their  needs. 

On  December  7th,  after  spending  a  month  in  the 
South,  studying  the  condition  of  things,  Davis  ad 
dressed  his  Congress  and  the  country  in  the  most 
earnest  and  candid  language.  He  admitted  the  crush 
ing  defeats  of  Gettysburg  and  Yicksburg ;  explained 
the  failure  of  Bragg  at  Missionary  Ridge,  by  asserting 
that  a  division  of  the  army  had  been  guilty  of  cow 
ardice  ;  and  deplored  the  loss  of  east  Tennessee.  He 
took  courage,  however,  from  the  successes  of  the  various 
coast  defense  operations  from  Galveston  to  Norfolk. 
Reviewing  the  foreign  relations  of  the  Confederacy,  he 
charged  England  with  unMr  and  deceptive  conduct, 
and  complained  bitterly  of  a  neutrality  which  gave  the 
enemy  every  advantage.  Of  France  he  said  little,  ex 
cept  to  hint  that  the  Confederacy  would  not  object  to 
the  establishment  of  the  Napoleonic  power  in  Mexico 
in  the  person  of  Maximilian  of  Austria.  But  there 
was  no  hope  of  recognition  anywhere — that  fond  de 
lusion  of  the  early  days  of  the  war  ;  he  made  no  appeal 
to  the  people  to  continue  steadfast  for  a  short  while  in 
the  expectation  that  Europe  would  interfere. 

To  fill  up  the  thin  ranks  of  the  armies  of  Lee  and 
Johnston,  he  insisted  that  the  conscript  laws  should  be 
so  modified  as  to  bring  into  the  service  all  who  had 
formerly  supplied  substitutes.  Negro  cooks  and 


320  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

wagoners  should  be  employed  in  order  that  the 
fighting  line  might  be  strengthened  by  the  men  thus 
released  from  less  responsible  duties.  All  those  of 
military  age  should  be  enrolled  and  drilled  in  the 
various  camps  of  instruction ;  however,  skilled  me 
chanics  and  others  whose  labor  was  essential  for  the 
sustenance  of  their  communities,  were  to  be  detailed 
to  do  their  special  work.  He  complained  of  the  pro 
longed  absence  of  commissioned  officers  from  their 
posts  of  duty. 

But  for  the  greater  evil,  the  demoralizing,  irredeemable 
paper  currency,  he  was  unable  to  suggest  a  remedy. 
The  Confederate  finances  were  from  the  beginning  badly 
managed.  Hoping  for  foreign  intervention,  reliance 
/|L  was  put  upon  temporary  makeshifts.  The  Mont 
gomery  Congress  emitted  paper  money  to  meet  the 
obligations  of  the  nascent  Confederacy.  When  mili 
tary  operations  assumed  huge  proportions,  bonds  were 
issued  without  security  and  disposed  of  at  par  to 
wealthy  planters,  who  had  no  thought  but  that  their 
new  nation  would  soon  be  at  peace  and  ready  to  re 
deem  its  obligations.  When  two  years  of  the  war 
had  passed,  Southern  statesmen  saw  how  flimsy  a 
thing  irredeemable  paper  was.  They  then  under 
took  to  issue  bonds  with  interest  payable  in  gold  and 
silver  ;  but  the  blockade  served  to  exclude  the  impor 
tation  of  the  necessary  precious  metals,  and  these 
bonds,  like  the  others,  depreciated  in  value,  the  gov 
ernment  failing  to  pay  the  interest  as  promised.  Men 
then  resorted  to  an  increasing  use  of  paper  currency. 
Bonds  were  less  desirable  than  simple  non-interest 
bearing  notes,  which  could  be  passed  on  to  one's 
neighbor  without  formality.  By  the  end  of  1863,  the 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     321 

Confederate  Treasury  had  issued  $700,000,000  in 
simple  promises  to  pay;  and  depreciation  had  ad 
vanced  until  a  pair  of  boots  cost  $50,  while  gold  sold 
in  Bichinond  at  the  rate  of  one  to  twenty-five.  The 
various  states  and  cities  added  to  the  inflation  until 
men  resorted  to  barter  rather  than  accept  the  money 
of  their  government.  In  North  Carolina  tenpenny 
nails  took  the  place  of  paper  five  cent  pieces. 

The  bitterest  recollection  of  all  responsible  leaders 
was  the  fact  that  in  1861  cotton  could  have  been 
bought  at  low  prices  with  paper  money  at  par,  ex 
ported  to  Europe  in  English  ships  and  held  there  as  a 
basis  for  the  Confederate  financial  operations.  In  this 
way  the  greatest  difficulty  of  1864  in  meeting  the  ad 
vance  of  the  enemy — the  easy  exchange  of  commodities 
and  the  movement  of  foodstuffs — could  have  been 
obviated.  It  was  a  sorrowful  result  of  sanguine  hopes, 
of  the  belief  on  the  part  of  most  men  that  cotton  was 
king.  It  was  too  late  in  1864  to  repair  the  ills  of 
short-sighted  statesmanship.  The  blockade  now  held 
King  Cotton  fast  on  the  Southern  plantation,  where  he 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  invader  and  only  added  to 
the  wealth  of  the  powerful  North. 

Yet  something  had  to  be  done.     Davis  recommended 
the  forcible  reduction  of  the  volume  of  the  currency,  j 
which  was  a  confession  of  bankruptcy.     The  method  j 
was  to  compel  the  holders  of  notes  to  accept  four  per  \ 
cent,  bonds  in  their  stead,  or  exchange  them  at  the 
ratio  of  three  dollars  of  the  old  issues  for  two  of  the 
new.     Congress  enacted  the  desired  legislation,  but  the 
people  refused  to  take  the  bonds,  preferring  the  notes 
with  the  penalty  which  had  been  prescribed. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  farmers  declined  to  sell 


322  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

their  produce,  except  in  exchange  for  coin  or  the 
greenbacks  of  the  enemy.  Had  they  been  willing  to 
continue  the  use  of  the  redundant  Confederate  cur 
rency,  the  salaries  of  government  officials  and  the 
stipends  of  the  private  soldiers  would  not  have  been 
equal  to  the  support  of  their  families.  With  meat 
selling  at  three  dollars  a  pound,  a  soldier  with  eleven 
dollars  a  month  could  not  begin  to  supply  his  family 
with  food.  The  government  was  the  greatest  pur 
chaser  of  foodstuffs  ;  but  it  had  nothing  except  paper 
with  which  to  buy.  Impressment  became  essential ; 
it  was  the  only  means  in  1864  of  keeping  the  armies  in 
the  field.  This  caused  the  alienation  of  the  people  for 
whom  the  war  was  being  fought.  The  Georgia  farmer 
%  hardly  knew  whom  to  dread  the  more,  Wheeler's 
cavalry  or  the  enemy. 

In  anticipation  of  this  necessity,  Congress  had  al 
ready  procured  the  passage  of  a  law  levying  a  tax  in 
kind  upon  farm  products  ;  the  rate  was  one-tenth.  In 
certain  localities  this  was  paid,  but  with  reluctance. 
Hard-pressed  and  frugal  Southern  planters  de 
clared  their  readiness  for  a  heavy  tax  in  money  but 
never  in  produce  of  their  fields.  The  government 
could  not  fairly  refuse  its  own  currency,  as  the  planter 
knew ;  at  the  same  time  he  realized  that  any  sum  of 
worthless  money  was  an  easier  tax  than  a  small  por 
tion  of  his  annual  crops.  Nothing  better  tested  the 
loyalty  of  the  farmer  than  this  tax  in  kind.  Mass 
meetings  were  held  in  Georgia  and  North  Carolina, 
protesting  against  the  iniquity  of  it,  and  Brown 
Yance  had  another  grievance  with  which  to  ply  the 
Eichmond  administration. 

Before  February  1,  1864,  these  disintegrating  forces 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     323 

and  conditions  became  alarming  to  the  Executive,  who 
nevertheless  hoped  that  if  the  Confederates  would  but 
rally  to  his  support  for  one  more  year,  the  cause  might  be 
won.  He  addressed  Congress  in  a  special  message,  call 
ing  its  attention  to  the  state  of  the  country.  / ' "  The  zeal 
of  the  people, ' '  he  said,  i  i  is  failing :  discontent,  disaffec 
tion,  disloyalty  are  manifest  among  those  who,  through 
the  sacrifice  of  others,  have  enjoyed  quiet  and  safety 
at  home  j  public  meetings  of  treasonable  character,  in 
the  name  of  state  sovereignty,  are  being  held  ;  soldiers 
are  taken  from  the  armies  on  the  eve  of  battle  under 
the  cover  of  writs  of  habeas  corpus  ;  traitors  in  the  city 
of  Eichmond  give  information  to  the  enemy ;  and 
when  laws  are  enacted  to  prevent  these  abuses,  the 
officials  of  states  or  localities  contrive  through  litiga 
tion  or  other  delays  to  nullify  them."  J  "  Desertion  is 
frequent,"  he  continued,  "and  becoming  the  order  of  the 
day  ;  and  those  who  seek  to  arrest  the  evil  are  attacked 
by  the  citizens  of  the  communities,  in  which  the  delin 
quents  live,  as  public  enemies.  Bands  of  deserters 
have  organized  and  now  systematically  plunder,  burn, 
and  rob  wherever  they  go ;  so  that  the  thin  ranks  of 
Lee  must  be  made  thinner  still  in  order  to  find  loyal 
men  to  protect  our  homes.  Must  these  evils  be  en^ 
dured?  Must  the  independence  for  which  we  are 
contending  be  put  in  peril  by  these  people  ?  "  l  Alarm 
ing  symptoms  indeed  were  these ;  the  dissolution  of 
the  Confederacy  seemed  imminent. 

Davis  suggested  another  remedy.     It  was  the  sus 
pension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  all  disaffected 
districts,  which  would  have  been  equivalent  to  putting 
the  country  into  the  hands  of  a  supreme  dictator. 
1  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  395. 


324  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

»     Only  some  such  measure  could  have  saved  the  Con- 

\   federacy  in  1864.     But  there  was  not  patriotism  enough 

tXf   in  the  South  to  entrust  the  President  with  such  powers, 

/    though  Congress  did  pass  a  law  granting  many  of  his 

/     requests.     The   enemies  of  Mr.    Davis  now  hurried 

"""  thick  and  fast  into  the  arena  against  him.     In  North 

Carolina  and  Georgia  the  most  formidable  opposition 

was  made ;  and  these  states,  next  to  Virginia,  were 

the  chief  reliance  of  the  Confederacy  after  the  loss  of 

the  region  around  Chattanooga.     Georgia  refused  to 

send  reinforcements  to  Johnston,  who  was  fighting  on 

her  own  soil,  unless  her  recalcitrant  governor — Brown 

— be  allowed  to  appoint  the  regimental  officers ;  and 

those  farmers  who  resisted  the  impressment  officers  were 

protected  by  the  state  authorities.     Able-bodied  men 

subject  to  the  draft  were  appointed  in  Georgia,  North 

Carolina,  and  other  states,  to  insignificant  civil  posts 

as  a  means  of  thwarting  the  recruiting  agents  of  the 

Confederate  War  Department.     The  Ehett  party  in 

South  Carolina  and  the  followers  of  Yancey  in  Alabama 

were   crying   out   against  the  Richmond  despotism, 

which  to  them  was  far  worse  than  that  of  Lincoln 

himself. 

The  two  great  duties  of  Davis  in  1864,  feeding  the 
armies  in  the  field  and  recruiting  its  depleted  ranks, 
were,  in  the  face  of  these  obstacles,  difficult  to  per 
form.  There  were,  however,  other  hindrances  which 
at  times  balked  the  most  zealous  endeavors.  The  rail 
ways,  few  as  they  were,  were  run  down,  poorly 
equipped,  and  managed  sometimes  by  incompetent 
or  disloyal  officials.  Schedules  could  not  be  main 
tained.  The  transportation  of  passengers  had  to  be 
discontinued  except  in  the  cases  of  soldiers  and  gov- 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     325 

eminent  employees.  Freight  could  not  be  moved  with 
safety  and  regularity.  Thus  storehouses  were  bursting 
with  army  supplies  in  various  sections  of  the  country, 
while  Robert  E.  Lee  dined  on  a  single  cabbage  head 
boiled  in  salt  water,  and  his  men  and  horses  were 
starving  for  the  lack  of  food.  Distances  were  too 
great  to  permit  the  hauling  of  these  provisions  on 
wagon  roads ;  and  had  this  difficulty  been  less,  the 
supply  of  wagons,  as  well  as  materials  for  constructing 
them,  was  insufficient.  To  make  these  bad  conditions 
worse,  the  Confederate  commissary  officials  were  unfit 
for  the  large  duties  of  their  positions.  Commissary- 
General  Northrop,  a  member  of  a  South  Carolina 
family  of  prominence  and  a  West  Point  graduate  who 
had  seen  service  in  the  United  States  Army,  was 
from  the  beginning  slow,  uncertain,  and  impervious  to 
suggestion.  Lee  repeatedly  complained  of  the  in 
efficiency  of  this  department  and  early  in  1864,  he 
suggested  the  removal  of  Northrop  ;  but  Davis  stood 
by  his  appointee. 

Keenly  appreciating  all  these  difficulties  of  the  Con 
federates'  Grant  matured  his  plans  about  May  1st,  and 
prepared  to  advance  against  Lee  and  defeat  him  or 
hold  him  fast  in  the  neighborhood  of  Spottsylvania 
Court  House.  At  the  same  time  General  Butler,  who 
commanded  40,000  men  at  Fortress  Monroe,  known 
as  the  Army  of  the  James,  was  to  move  against  Peters 
burg,  get  possession  of  the  railroads  which  pass  through 
that  city  to  Eichmond,  and,  taking  the  Confederate 
capital  in  the  rear,  compel  its  surrender.  Lynchburg 
or  Danville  must  then  have  become  Lee's  base  of 
supplies.  General  Burnside,  with  a  force  of  15,000 
men,  was  to  support  Grant's  movement  by  threatening 


326  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

the  Valley  of  Virginia.  Thus  nearly  200,000  men 
were  to  be  put  in  motion  simultaneously  against 
Eichmond. 1 

Davis  was  profoundly  impressed  with  the  danger 
of  the  situation  j  he  gave  personal  attention  to 
the  badly  managed  commissary  and  conscript  depart 
ments.  But  it  was  mainly  in  devising  means  of  defeat 
ing  Grant  and  Sherman  that  he  occupied  himself.  In 
the  winter  months  he  had  summoned  the  generals  from 
the  field  to  consult  with  him  about  different  plans. 
Lee  was  often  in  Eichmond  and  once  Longstreet  came 
from  his  post  of  duty  in  east  Tennessee  to  attend  one  of 
these  conferences.  There  were  two  possible  ways  of 
thwarting  Grant.  One  was  to  draw  him  into  the 
dangerous  region  of  the  Wilderness  and  cut  his  army 
to  pieces.  For  this  purpose  Lee7  s  forces  were  too  weak. 
A  second  scheme  and  a  more  feasible  one  was  the  defeat 
of  Butler  on  the  lower  James. 

This  incompetent  general  held  the  key  to  the  con 
quest  of  Eichmond,  for  he  could  have  seized  Peters 
burg  at  any  time  before  May  10th,  without  serious 
opposition.  There  were  less  than  3,000  men  in  his 
path.  Beauregard  was  far  away  at  Weldon  with  a 
force  of  10,000  men,  guarding  the  railroad  against  at 
tack  from  Norfolk.  Davis  was  now  urged  to  reenforce 
him  with  one  of  Lee's  corps,  so  that  he  could  fall  sud 
denly  upon  Butler,  either  capturing  his  entire  army  or 
dealing  it  such  a  blow  as  would  render  it  useless  in  the 
coming  campaign.  A  movement  of  this  kind  would 
have  been  easy  under  Jackson,  but  Davis  distrusted 

1  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Some  Phases  of  the  Civil  War,  in  Mass. 
Hist.  Soc.  Proceedings,  second  series,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  351,— a  brilliant 
piece  of  military  criticism. 


THE  CONFLICT  DKAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     327 

Beauregard's  ability,  and  Lee  agreed  with  the  Presi 
dent  without  giving  other  reasons  than  his  own  weak 
ness.  A  crushing  defeat  or  the  capture  of  the  major 
portion  of  Butler's  forces  would  have  produced  a  pro 
found  impression  on  the  North  in  the  early  spring  of 
1864.  Whether  it  would  have  led  to  negotiations  for 
peace  is  open  to  serious  doubt. 

Longstreet  favored  the  formation  of  a  new  Southern 
army,  to  be  collected  in  the  Carolinas  and  assembled 
stealthily  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bristol,  Tenn.,  whose 
purpose  was  to  be  the  reconquest  of  the  western  por 
tion  of  that  state  and  of  Kentucky,  where  there  were 
thousands  of  Confederate  supporters.  This  army  was 
then  to  move  rapidly  upon  the  communications  of 
Sherman  and  force  a  retreat.  Longstreet  thought  that 
a  few  brilliant  strokes  would  arouse  the  country  and 
cause  recruits  to  come  in  large  numbers,  thus  enabling 
the  new  commander  to  meet  Sherman  with  a  fair  show 
of  success,  while  Joseph  E.  Johnston  could  at  once  take 
the  offensive  and  regain  possession  of  Chattanooga  and 
the  rich  Tennessee  Valley.  Beauregard  was  suggested 
as  the  leader  of  this  movement  ;  but  Lougstreet  knew 
that  the  President's  relations  with  this  commander  would 
preclude  such  an  appointment.  He  himself  would 
then  have  been  the  only  logical  candidate  for  the  posi 
tion.  Whether  this  able  subordinate  of  General  Lee, 
with  his  corps  in  Knoxville  at  that  time,  could  have 
performed  such  brilliant  feats  in  the  proposed  field  of 
operations  is  doubtful.  But  the  greater  obstacle  in 
the  mind  of  Lee,  whose  judgment  was  given  against 
the  scheme,  was  the  impossibility  of  procuring  the 
necessary  men.  Fort  Fisher  in  North  Carolina  could 
not  be  stripped  of  its  garrison,  and  Charleston  was 


328  JEFFEBSON  DAYIS 

exposed  to  daily  attack  by  superior  forces.  New 
recruits  were  very  difficult  to  obtain  in  the  territory 
still  open  to  the  Confederate  authorities,  and  Lee,  in 
whom  every  one  felt  the  utmost  confidence,  stood  in 
need  of  all  that  could  be  enlisted.  Davis  decided 
against  Longstreet's  plan  but  sent  a  brigadier's  com 
mission  to  Nathan  B.  Forrest,  the  erstwhile  slave- 
trader  of  the  Mississippi  region,  with  instructions  to 
raise  an  army  of  cavalry  in  west  Tennessee,  and  break 
up  the  traffic  along  the  great  river.  This  illiterate  but 
enterprising  general  gave  promise  at  one  time  of  ac 
complishing  all  that  Longstreet  had  planned. 

On  May  3d,  Grant  moved  against  Lee's  right;  his 
march  was  not  interrupted  until  the  great  Union  army 
had  penetrated  the  Wilderness  on  the  very  ground  of 
Hooker's  discomfiture  a  year  before,  when  Lee  fell  with 
his  whole  strength  upon  the  North's  entangled  corps. 
The  Confederate  generals  thought  that  l  i  the  Lord  had 
delivered  their  enemy  into  their  hands."  *  In  the  two 
days'  fight  which  followed,  the  Federal  loss  was  17,600 
men,  the  Confederate  over  10,000,  with  Lee  standing 
firm,  ready  to  renew  the  conflict.  On  the  7th  of  May, 
Grant  moved  toward  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  only 
to  find  his  antagonist  ready  for  him  there.  Heavy 
fighting  occurred  daily  until  the  12th,  when  a  short 
respite  was  granted  the  Union  army,  which  Lee  wel 
comed  as  much  as  the  enemy.  On  the  18th,  and  again 
at  the  end  of  the  month,  Qrant  renewed  the  fatal 
" hammering"  which  he  thought  was  necessary  to 
finish  the  war. 

By  this  time  the  Northern  commander  had  reached  the 
North  Anna  Eiver,  the  ground  on  which  it  had  been 
1  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV,  p.  440. 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     329 

planned  to  capture  Burnside's  array  in  December, 
1862.  The  Confederate  position  was  found  to  be  almost 
impregnable  and  Grant,  having  lost  an  army  half  as  large 
as  that  of  his  opponent,  public  opinion  at  the  North  be 
gan  to  turn  against  his  "hammering"  process.  He 
abandoned  his  frontal  and  flank  attacks  and  moved  his 
army  toward  Lee's  right  in  the  direction  of  Games' 
Mill,  in  Hanover  County,  where  the  best  fighting  of 
McClellan's  army  in  1862  had  occurred,  and  where 
Joseph  E.  Johnston  had  been  wounded,  giving  place 
to  Lee.  Here  Grant  fell  precipitately  on  the  Confederate 
front  at  a  place  called  Cold  Harbor  and  lost  7,000  of 
his  best  troops  in  a  few  hours  without  gaining  any 
advantage  whatever.  On  June  12th  he  began  to  move 
his  forces  toward  the  James  Eiver — the  position  from 
which  McClellan  had  proposed,  in  August,  1862,  to 
attack  Eichmond — having  lost  54,900  men  since  May 
4th.  No  army  could  long  stand  such  depletion.  The 
government  of  the  United  States  began  to  waver  in  its 
support  of  the  new  general  and  the  Treasury  was 
threatening  to  give  way  under  a  strain  of  nearly  two 
millions  a  day.  Secretary  Chase  was  almost  daily  de 
claring  that  he  could  not  find  the  means  for  conducting 
such  a  campaign  longer  than  three  months.  To  supply 
recruits  on  this  scale  and  apparently  to  no  good  end, 
was  more  difficult  than  at  any  previous  time  during 
the  war.  It  was  beginning  to  look  as  if  Grant  would 
go  the  way  of  McClellau,  Burnside,  and  Hooker  ;  and 
then  what  ?  Would  the  North  give  up  the  contest  I 

Meanwhile  Butler  had  remained  idle,  as  though  he 
actually  desired  to  see  Grant  defeated.  His  demon 
stration  against  Petersburg,  and  the  railways  over 
which  Lee's  army  was  reenforced  and  provisioned,  was 


330  JEFFEESON  DAYIS 

so  feeble  that  a  single  brigade  which  happened  to  be 
in  the  neighborhood  drove  him  off.  Beauregard  was 
recruited  from  various  points  in  the  Carolinas  and 
ordered  to  attack  the  Union  general  at  Drewry's  Bluff. 
On  May  16th,  Butler  was  repulsed  and,  in  the  language 
of  Grant  "  bottled  up  "  by  an  inferior  force  for  the  re 
mainder  of  the  campaign.1  The  latter  reached  the 
James  in  safety  late  in  June,  relieved  Butler,  who  was 
henceforth  to  be  his  unwelcome  second  in  command, 
and  began  to  cast  about  for  some  less  costly  means  of 
capturing  Eichmond ;  or  rather  of  defeating  Lee, 
who  still  confronted  him  and  was  now  in  touch  with 
Beauregard. 

Leaving  the  storm  centre  of  the  Confederacy  for  a 
moment,  let  us  turn  to  Johnston  and  Sherman  who 
began  operations  on  the  same  day  that  Grant  crossed 
the  Eapidan.  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  whom  Davis  had 
distrusted  since  the  fatal  quarrel  after  the  first  battle 
of  Manassas,  now  held  the  fortunes  of  the  South  in  his 
hands ;  for  a  successful  invasion  of  Georgia  by  Sher 
man's  army  was  a  more  serious  thing  than  the  capture 
of  Eichmond  would  have  been.  Johnston,  like  all 
able  engineer  officers,  had  the  full  confidence  of  his 
men  ; a  but  he  had  never  won  an  important  victory 
unless  First  Manassas  be  placed  to  his  credit.  Besides, 
he  felt  that  he  had  been  badly  treated,  while  his  sub 
ordinates  half  doubted  his  devotion  to  the  cause. 
The  men,  however,  expected  victory  with  the  least 
possible  loss  of  life.  The  line  of  the  Chattanooga  and 


1  Adams,  Some  Phases  of  the  Civil  War,  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Proceed 
ings,  second  series,  Vol.  XIX,  p,  351. 

2  Witness  McClellan's  unfailing  popularity  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac. 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     331 

Atlanta  Railroad  was  to  be  the  bone  of  contention  ; 
the  country  was  rough  and  well  adapted  to  defensive 
operations. 

Sherman  attacked  the  Confederates  first  on  one 
flank,  and  then  on  the  other,  and  gained  his  point  each 
time,  losing,  however,  as  was  foreseen,  nearly  twice  as 
many  men  as  Johnston.  After  each  onslaught,  the 
Confederate  general  retreated  to  a  strong  position  in 
the  rear,  entrenched  himself  and  awaited  another  en 
counter,  never  once  taking  the  offensive  with  concen 
trated  strength — a  policy  which  he  had  urged  upon 
Davis  from  the  beginning — and  attempting  to  capture 
the  enemy.  Before  the  end  of  June,  Sherman,  tiring 
of  the  hide-and-seek  game  among  the  Georgia  hills, 
assaulted  his  antagonist  at  Kenesaw  Mountain,  less 
than  twenty  miles  from  Atlanta.  His  hope  was  to 
open  ;the  way  to  the  Georgia  metropolis  at  a  single 
blow.  He  was  defeated  with  a  loss  of  3,000  men  and 
was  forced  to  return  to  the  slow  but  sure  flanking 
method  of  the  preceding  months.  On  the  9th  of  July 
Johnston  crossed  the  Chattahoochie  Eiver  and  thus 
entered  upon  the  last  phase  of  the  contest. 

The  two  sides  now  looked  anxiously  for  the  result  of 
Sherman's  bold  invasion.  In  the  North  a  Presidential 
campaign  was  on.  Grant  had  practically  failed  in  his 
plan  against  Eichmond  and  the  friends  of  theEepubli- 
can  administration  trembled  lest  McClellan,  the 
popular  but  mistreated  Union  general  who  had  been 
nominated  by  the  Democrats,  should  be  elected.  Such 
a  result  would  have  brought  peace  and  Southern 
independence.  John  Sherman,  then  a  powerful  Ee- 
publican  member  of  the  Federal  Senate,  wrote  his 
brother  that  his  success  or  failure  before  Atlanta  would 


332  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

probably  decide  the  fate  of  the  Union,  and  the  general 
realized  the  weight  of  responsibility  resting  upon  him. 
President  Davis  was  greatly  disappointed  at  the 
successive  retreats  of  Johnston  ;  he  knew  that  the  fall 
of  Atlanta  would  dishearten  the  South  as  nothing  else 
had  done.  And  he  feared,  too,  that  a  great  victory  at 
that  time  would  so  encourage  the  people  of  the  North 
as  to  make  sure  the  reelection  of  President  Lincoln. 
Once  more,  as  on  so  many  other  occasions,  everything 
seemed  to  hinge  on  the  work  of  a  single  day.  Would 
Johnston  retreat  again  t  Would  he  surrender  Atlanta 
and  elect  Lincoln  ?  These  were  questions  anxiously 
asked  in  Eichmond  in  those  fateful  July  days.  Davis 
wrote  Johnston  for  some  plan,  something  to  encourage 
the  belief  that  the  Southern  stronghold  would  prove  the 
grave  of  Sherman  ;  but  he  received  no  such  assurance. 
Delegations  of  prominent  Georgia  js  went  to  Eichmoud 
to  urge  the  removal  of  the  retreating  general.  Senator 
Benjamin  H.  Hill  attended  a  cabinet  meeting  to  press 
the  matter,  though  he  was  unable  to  answer  the  Presi 
dent's  query  :  "  Whom  would  you  appoint  to  succeed 
him  f  "  *  After  much  hesitation  Johnston  was  replaced 
by  John  B.  Hood,  one  of  the  corps  commanders  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee.2  The  change  was  made  on 
July  17th  and  the  deposed  general  left  Atlanta  for 
Macon  at  once,  in  order,  as  it  was  rumored,  to  prevent 
mutiny  on  the  part  of  the  soldiers.  Hood  gave  battle 
and  was  badly  beaten  two  days  later,  when  Sherman 
was  enabled  to  march  around  to  the  south  of  Atlanta  as 
Grant  was  doing  at  Eichmond.  The  Confederate  con- 

1  Letter  of  James  Lyons  to  Major  W.  T.  Walthall,  June  10,  1878, 
Confederate  Museum  Papers. 
*JRi8e  and  Fall,  Vol.  II,  p.  557. 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     333 

tinued  to  confront  the  enemy,  keeping  the  city  in  the 
rear  until  at  Jonesboro  he  was  again  defeated  and 
compelled,  toward  the  end  of  August,  to  evacuate  the 
place.  He  moved  southwest  toward  Palmetto,  Ga., 
near  the  Alabama  border,  to  await  further  instructions 
from  Eichmond,  while  Sherman  entered  Atlanta. 

The  South  was  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  this  removal,  and  Davis  was  bitterly  arraigned  in 
the  following  autumn,  but  this  was  after  Hood  had 
failed  to  arrest  the  progress  of  Sherman.  There  was 
no  very  outspoken  criticism  at  the  time,  for  the  people 
were  losing  confidence  in  Johnston  ;  even  his  own 
soldiers  feared  the  consequences  of  their  commander's 
policy.  He  himself  was  sorely  disappointed  and  in  his 
justification  he  at  once  thinks  of  Lee's  failure  to  beat 
Grant  rather  than  of  his  own  short-comings.  His  jeal 
ousy  of  Lee,  which  Had  been  nursed  since  1861,  finds 
vent  in  the  telegram  of  July  18th,  in  which  it  was  de 
clared  that  he  had  not  been  given  as  good  a  chance  as 
his  rival,  yet  he  had  done  better.  It  was  not  the 
spirit  of  Lee  at  Gettysburg,  when  he  publicly  assumed 
all  the  blame  for  the  disaster. 

The  failure  of  Hood  caused  Davis  the  greatest  un 
easiness.  He  hastened  via  Danville,  Augusta,  and 
Macon,  to  the  headquarters  of  the  defeated  army. 
There  the  outlook  was  discouraging.  Sherman  had 
60,000  men  in  Atlanta  ;  Hood  had  40,000.  and  the 
Confederates  were  demoralized.  After  inspecting 
the  soldiers,  Davis  and  the  general,  in  conference 
with  the  division  commanders,  decided  that  their  only 
chance  of  success  was  to  cut  Sherman's  communica 
tions  with  Chattanooga,  tear  up  the  railroads  around 
Atlanta,  and  raise  a  popular  war  in  Georgia  and  Ala- 


334  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

bama  which  would  put  the  Union  leader  in  the  position 
of  Napoleon  at  Moscow.  Leaving  Hood  at  Palmetto, 
Davis  returned  to  Macon,  a  centre  of  as  intense  a  South- 
ernisrn  as  Charleston  itself,  to  make  one  of  his  first  great 
war  speeches.  He  said:  "  Our  cause  is  not  lost.  Sher 
man  cannot  keep  up  his  long  line  of  communication  ; 
and  retreat  sooner  or  later  he  must.  And  when  that 
day  comes,  the  fate  that  befell  the  army  of  the  French 
Empire  in  its  retreat  from  Moscow  will  be  reenacted."  l 
On  September  25th,  he  met  Beauregard,  Hardee,  and 
Howell  Cobb  in  conference  at  Augusta,  where  it  was 
decided  to  make  the  chief  feature  of  the  campaign 
against  Sherman  the  breaking  of  the  Federal  com 
munications  with  Chattanooga.  In  fact,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  what  other  policy  was  open  to  him  ;  for  Hood's 
inferior  force  could  hardly  be  expected  to  operate  suc 
cessfully  against  the  enemy  strongly  fortified  in  At 
lanta.  The  President,  accompanied  by  the  generals, 
was  present  at  a  great  rally,  where  the  utmost  har 
mony  seemed  to  prevail.  He  urged  the  people  to  sus 
tain  the  sacred  cause  of  self-government,  to  cast  their 
gold  to  the  winds,  and  leave  their  families  behind  for 
a  while  ;  for  "if  our  Confederacy  falls,  constitutional 
government,  political  freedom  itself,  will  fall  with 
it."  2 

He  then  called  upon  Governor  Brown  and  his  people 
to  rise  up  in  their  might  and  cast  the  insolent  enemy 
from  the  sacred  soil.  "This  Confederacy,77  he  de 
clared,  "is  not  played  out  as  the  croakers  tell  you. 
Let  every  man  able  to  bear  arms  go  to  the  front  and 
the  others  must  work  at  home  for  the  cause.  Our 

1  Richmond  Enquirer,  September  28,  1864. 


THE  CONFLICT  DRAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     335 

states  must  lean  one  upon  the  other ;  he  who  fights 
now  for  Georgia  fights  for  all.  We  must  beat  Sher 
man  and  regain  the  line  of  the  Ohio.  Let  men  not 
ask  what  the  law  requires,  but  give  whatever  freedom 
demands."  ' 

Beauregard  set  out  at  once  for  Hood's  headquarters, 
to  arrange  with  him  the  details  of  the  plan  to  a  smoke 
Sherman  out  of  Georgia."  The  militia  of  the  state 
were  to  be  rallied  by  Ho  well  Cobb  and  G.  W.  Smith  ; 
Stephen  D.  Lee,  of  Mississippi,  was  to  move  his  com 
mand  of  10,000  into  Alabama  to  support  Hood  and 
Beauregard  ;  Joseph  Wheeler  and  N.  B.  Forrest  were 
to  bring  their  cavalry  commands  into  supporting  dis 
tance.  The  farmers  and  planters  were  to  turn  out  in 
force  and  block  the  roads,  over  which  the  Union  army 
attempted  to  move,  with  fallen  trees  and  other  obstruc 
tions.  It  was  indeed  to  be  a  people's  war. 

When  Beauregard  reached  Hood,  the  latter  had 
already  crossed  the  Chattahoochie  Eiver  on  his  way  to 
cut  Sherman's  communications.  The  two  generals 
disagreed,  as  was  to  be  expected,  and  Hood,  un 
doubtedly  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Presi 
dent,  to  whom  he  gave  the  most  respectful  obedience, 
moved  his  army  to  Gadsden,  Ga.  Sherman  hastened 
Thomas  back  to  Tennessee  with  a  force  strong  enough 
to  defeat  any  army  the  enemy  could  bring  against 
him,  while  he  himself  took  up  the  march  toward 
Savannah,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  the  Con 
federate  chieftains.  On  hearing  that  Sherman  de 
clined  to  follow  Hood,  Davis  telegraphed  the  latter,  on 
November  7,  to  change  his  plans  ;  but  the  message 
was  not  delivered  until  it  was  too  late  and  the  Southern 
1  Richmond  Enquirer,  October  12,  1864. 


336  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

army,  now  44, 000  strong,  marched  into  Tennessee,  where 
it  was  disastrously  defeated  by  Schofield  and  Thomas 
before  the  end  of  the  year.  Sherman  continued  his 
journey  toward  Savannah. 

But  while  Davis  was  firing  the  Georgia  heart,  Vice- 
President  Stephens,  who  had  not  been  at  his  post  in 
Bichinond  for  nearly  two  years,  was  doing  what  he 
could  to  break  down  the  influence  of  the  administra 
tion.  Governor  Brown,  the  faultfinder,  Senator  H.  V. 
Johnson,  and  other  influential  Georgians  cooperated 
with  him.  Together  they  had  procured  the  pas 
sage  of  resolutions  by  the  legislature,1  which  de 
nounced  the  President  and  severely  criticised  the  con 
duct  of  the  war  from  the  outset.  The  people  were 
thus  told  by  a  large  majority  of  their  representatives 
that  the  Eichmond  administration  was  tyrannical  be 
yond  anything  they  had  known  under  the  old  regime  ; 
that  they  were  unlawfully  forced  into  the  army,  robbed 
of  their  possessions  by  the  impressment  acts  of  Con 
gress,  and  deprived  of  their  dearest  rights.  Davis' s  call 
to  the  militia  of  the  state  to  aid  in  expelling  Sherman, 
Governor  Brown  treated  with  contempt,  and  demanded 
that  some  of  the  Georgia  regiments  then  with  Lee,  be 
returned  to  do  the  required  fighting  at  home.  On 
the  day  after  Davis  closed  his  campaign  of  encourage 
ment,  Stephens  took  up  his  residence  in  South  Caro 
lina  and  said  to  the  people  of  Augusta,  in  passing 
through  the  town,  that  the  resources  of  the  South 
were  exhausted  and  that  peace  ought  to  be  made.  He 
even  talked  of  entering  into  a  compact  with  the 
Northern  Democracy  to  control  the  policy  of  the 

^ee    Stephens'   resolutions    in    Johnston  and  Browne's  Life, 
passim. 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     337 

Union.1  If  ever  a  man  of  mature  years  and  high 
reputation  talked  and  behaved  like  a  child,  it  was 
Stephens  in  the  autumn  of  1864  ;  the  worst  of  it  was 
that  he  was  a  favorite  leader  of  the  people  and  next 
in  official  station  to  the  President  himself. 

In  North  Carolina  the  attitude  of  the  state  adminis 
tration  was  not  unlike  that  of  Georgia.  Vance  had 
again  been  returned  to  the  Governor's  chair.  He  was 
a  shrewd  man,  in  conduct  and  character,  the  nearest 
approach  to  Lincoln  the  South  had  produced;  his 
ears  were  constantly  on  the  ground.  Consequently  he 
was  never  on  the  unpopular  side  of  any  question.  He 
was  the  most  difficult  man  Davis  had  to  deal  with. 

A  few  points  only  will  illustrate  this  :  In  1863, 
when  some  of  Longstreet's  corps  passed  through 
Ealeigh  on  their  way  to  Chattanooga,  a  party  of 
Georgia  soldiers  fell  upon  Holden's  newspaper  office2 
and  demolished  it,  because  of  the  editor's  influence  in 
breaking  down  the  power  of  the  Confederacy.  Yance 
threatened  to  recall  North  Carolina's  contingent  in 
Lee's  army  to  avenge  this  wrong  ;  but  a  day  later, 
when  the  anti-secessionists  of  Ealeigh  demolished 
the  office  of  the  pro-Davis  Journal,  he  was  so  com 
pletely  satisfied  as  to  allow  the  regiments  to  remain 
in  their  places.  Ealeigh  was  reported  in  Eichmond  to 
be  a  centre  of  disloyalty  to  the  "  Davis  government." 

North  Carolina  was  the  greatest  manufacturing  state 
in  the  South  having  just  half  of  all  the  plants  of 
this  kind  in  that  section.  Yance  had  no  notion  of 
permitting  these  factories  to  work  for  the  Confederacy 

1  A  Rebel  War  Clerk's  Diary,  Vol.  II,  p.  283. 

2  W.  W.  Holden,  whose  paper,  the  most  powerful  journal  in  the 
state,  was  advocating  peace. 


338  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

as  a  whole ;  he  arranged,  during  his  first  administra 
tion,  to  supply  the  North  Carolina  soldiers  with  cloth 
ing  on  state  account,  charging  for  the  service.  A  little 
later,  when  clothing  was  scarce,  he  kept  ten  thousand 
uniforms  in  store  in  Richmond  nearly  a  year,  re 
fusing  to  sell  them  to  the  government  for  the  needy 
soldiers  from  other  parts  of  the  Confederacy.  With 
his  numerous  weaving  mills  he  was  able  to  dress  his 
troops  well ;  all  the  other  states  together  had  only  twenty 
manufacturing  textile  plants,  and  their  troops  were 
necessarily  poorly  clad.  Vance  boasted  in  his  many 
speeches  that  he  could  clothe  the  men  who  went  into  the 
army  from  North  Carolina,  and  the  people  applauded 
him  to  the  echo.1 

In  1864,  Wilmington  was  the  most  important  port 
in  the  South.  Through  it  nearly  all  the  supplies  from 
abroad  entered  the  Confederacy.  Vance  claimed,  as 
he  had  done  in  the  matter  of  manufacturing,  the  prece 
dence  of  state  blockade  runners  over  those  of  the 
general  government,  at  times  denouncing  the  Con 
federate  administration  for  daring  to  use  the  port 
freely,  in  even  more  vigorous  language  than  he  w^as 
accustomed  to  abuse  the  Lincoln  government.2  He 
demanded  that  North  Carolina's  interests  should  be  first 
satisfied  ;  then  if  anything  remained,  the  Confederacy 
might  have  it.  This  was  popular  in  this  intensely  states7 
rights  commonwealth,  and  he  grew  in  favor  daily.  The 
North  Carolina  legislature,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Vance  doctrines,  joined  Georgia  in  the  protest  against 
all  the  unpopular  measures  of  the  Confederacy,  not 
withstanding  the  fact  that  Lee  was  known  to  en- 

1  Official  Records,  Series  IV,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  691. 

2  Official  Eecords,  Series  IV,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  1056. 


THE  CONFLICT  DEAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     339 

dorse  almost  everything  Davis  recommended  to  Con 
gress. 

North  Carolina  had  entered  reluctantly  upon  the  sea 
of  secession  in  1861 ;  but  having  embarked,  her  people 
labored  valiantly  for  the  common  cause,  furnishing  their 
full  quota  of  men,  who  fought  like  demons  at  Gettys 
burg  and  elsewhere,  until  political  disagreement  was 
fanned  into  a  flame  of  discontent  by  the  ambitious 
politicians  at  home.  In  1864,  however,  Lee  com 
plained  that  his  troops  from  this  state  were  deserting 
in  large  numbers ;  he  favored  a  more  stringent  enforce 
ment  of  the  conscript  law.  But  when  Confederate^ 
officials  seized  deserters  and  prepared  to  hasten  them 
on  to  their  places  in  the  army,  Chief- Justice  Pearson 
interfered  by  releasing  every  one  who  applied  to  him 
for  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  The  judge  simply  denied  v 
to  the  Confederacy  the  authority  to  suspend  it  under 
any  circumstances.  Vance  sustained  his  chief -justice 
and  proposed  to  the  administration  that  all  deserters 
and  conscripts  be  left  alone  until,  in  the  fulness  of  time, 
the  State  Supreme  Court  could  decide  upon  the  legality 
of  Pearson's  rulings.1  Only  in  this  manner,  said 
the  governor,  could  peace  between  the  Confederacy 
and  the  state  be  maintained  !  But  Lee's  army  would 
have  been  decimated  and  rendered  useless  as  a  barrier 
against  Grant's  invasion,  if  Pearson  and  Vance  had 
been  allowed  to  have  their  way. 

When  Davis  refused  to  recognize  the  force  of 
these  extraordinary  proceedings,  Vance  sought  another 
way  to  checkmate  the  Confederate  President.  He  de 
tailed  14, 000  men,  most  of  whom  ought  to  have  been 
with  Lee,  to  insignificant  positions  in  the  local  govern- 
1  Official  Records,  Series  IV,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  176, 


340  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

ment.  Citizens  of  means,  who  were  physically  able  to 
serve  their  country  in  the  field,  sought  to  be  "  de 
tailed"  and  their  requests  were  granted.  Davis  in 
sisted  that  every  man  should  be  put  into  the  ranks, 
but  Vance  replied  that  he  would  then  take  North 
Carolina  out  of  the  Confederacy. 

Eealizing  the  meaning  of  the  bitter  discord  in 
Georgia  and  North  Carolina,  with  full  knowledge  that 
the  opposition  to  himself  was  steadily  increasing, 
Davis,  after  his  return  to  Eichmond,  wrote  to  Stephens 
in  a  kindly  but  reprimanding  tone,  asking  him  if  he 
did  not  think  it  would  be  more  becoming  for  such  an 
able  man,  in  so  high  a  station,  to  return  to  his  post  of 
duty  rather  than  remain  away  to  work  up  hostility 
against  the  administration.1  Late  in  the  autumn 
Stephens  came  back  to  Eichmond,  took  up  his  residence 
only  a  few  yards  from  the  Executive  Mansion  and 
called  on  his  chief.  Stephens  said  at  the  time  that 
Davis  refused  to  see  him  and  social  intercourse 
ceased  j 2  but  he  remarks  in  his  book  that  socially 

ley  were  on  good  terms  to  the  end. 

The  opposition  of  leading  men  and  the  discontent 
of  the  masses  increased  after  the  disastrous  movement 
j}f  Hood  into  Tennessee  in  December.  In  Congress  the 
feeling  was  intense  and  for  a  time  it  appeared  to  the 
friends  of  Davis  that  some  attempt  might  be  made  to  re 
move  him  from  office.  Investigation  of  the  removal  of 
Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  mooted ;  the  general  himself 
was  present  to  urge  his  case.  His  cause  was  cham 
pioned  by  a  majority  of  Congress  and  the  people,  and 

1  Confederate  Museum  Papers. 

*Ibid.,  letter  of  James  Lyons,  an  intimate  friend  of  Davis  to 
Major  Walthall  of  Mississippi,  1878. 


THE  CONFLICT  DRAWS  TO  A  CLOSE     341 

newspapers  began  to  press  for  his  restoration.  Friends 
of  Davis  insisted  that  he  be  invited  to  appear  in  person 
before  Congress  to  explain  his  policy ;  but  a  motion  to 
that  effect  failed  on  the  plea  that  the  President  must 
first  signify  his  willingness  to  address  the  body.  James 
Lyons,  the  delegate  from  Richmond,  reported  the  case 
to  Davis,  who  declined  to  indicate  any  wish  in  the 
matter. 

The  closing  months  of  1864  brought  the  news  of 
Sherman's  successful  march  through  Georgia  and  of 
the  imminent  peril  of  Savannah,  Charleston,  and  Wil 
mington  ;  Mobile  had  already  fallen.  While  Grant 
had  not  prevailed  in  his  efforts  against  Richmond  and 
Petersburg,  a  detachment  of  the  Union  forces  in  Vir 
ginia  had  invaded  the  Valley,  with  the  aim  of  laying 
waste  the  farms  and  storehouses  from  which  Lee  still 
drew  supplies.  David  Hunter,  of  unsavory  fame,  did 
the  work  effectively,  and  late  in  December,  when 
Early  was  detached  by  Lee  to  rid  this  strip  of  country 
of  the  enemy,  Sheridan,  who  had  superseded  Hunter,  de 
feated  the  Southerner  at  Cedar  Creek  and  made  his  way 
toward  Lynchburg  with  the  view  of  joining  Grant's 
left  wing,  already  stretching  out  toward  Farmville,  Va., 
for  that  purpose. 

The  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy  were  now  nearly—/ 
lost  and  every  one  knew  it  but  Davis,  who  hoped    I  \s* 
against  hope  that  some  signal  victory  might  yet  be 
won  to  save  the  day.     The  one  weak  point  in  the   I 
strategy  of  the  Union  at  that  time  was  the  position  of 
Sherman.     That  bold  general  had  long  since  ceased  to 
maintain    any  communication  with  his  government. 
His  hope  was  in  the  fall  of  Savannah,  which  might 
become  his  base  for  a  further  march  northward  through 


342  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

the  Carolinas.  If  that  city  held  out  heroically,  there 
was  reason  to  believe  that  Sherman  could  be  sur 
rounded  and  forced  to  surrender.  Would  not  gallant 
South  Carolina,  with  so  much  to  fear,  rise  en  masse  to 
put  down  the  invader?  The  destruction  of  the  Federal 
army  would  have  been  a  staggering  blow  to  the  North  ; 
Grant  would  have  felt  more  than  ever  his  own  danger ; 
and  his  government  might  have  consented  to  treat. 
Furthermore,  the  success  of  Sherman  and  a  victory 
over  Lee  would  not  have  meant  final  disaster  to  Davis, 
who  expected  to  maintain  his  ground  with  small  forces 
after  the  manner  of  Washington  in  the  Eevolutiou, 
and  wring  recognition  from  the  North  even  after  defeat 
in  the  open  field.  In  great  anxiety  Eichmond  watched 
the  war  bulletins  as  the  year  1864  neared  its  close,  while 
President  Lincoln  walked  the  corridors  of  the  White 
House  through  long  sleepless  nights,  fearing  for  the 
fate  of  the  army  in  Georgia. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY 

LONG  before  Congress  met  in  Bichmond  in  the  early 
days  of  November,  1864,  one  member  of  Davis' s  cabi-  / 
net  had  made  up  his  mind  what  to  do  to  avert  the  f  '; 
catastrophe  which    he  foresaw.      That  member  was  \ 
Judah  P.  Benjamin,  the  hated  Jew,   whom  the  Presi 
dent  had  retained  at  his  council  table,  despite  the 
thousand  and  one  protests  of  the  Southern  people  and 
press.     He  favored  the  liberation  of  the  slaves — the 
one  thing  the  leaders  of  the  South  had  always  declared 
to  be  simply  impossible.     The  astute  Secretary  of  State 
saw  two  results  which  might  follow  such  a  step  and  he 
hoped  for  the  third, — independence. 

The  first  object  of  Benjamin's  scheme  was  to  secure 
foreign  recognition  by  giving  assurance  of  emancipa 
tion.  He  knew,  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  that 
slavery  was  a  great  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of 
Confederate  diplomacy  ;  this  obstacle  he  now  proposed 
to  remove.  Had  he  been  able  to  announce  such  a 
program  in  1862,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  success 
would  have  crowned  his  efforts. 

The  second  object  of  this  desperate  manoeuvre  of  the 
Confederacy  was  to  give  freedom  to  the  negro  on  con 
dition  of  his  enlisting  in  the  army  and  fighting  till  the 
close  of  the  war.  Such  a  proposition  was  utterly  for 
eign  to  all  Southern  reasoning  on  this  vital  question  ; 
under  stress  of  a  strong  sea,  the  good  captain 


344  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

throws  overboard  many  valuable  possessions.  The 
argument  and  oratory  with  which  Davis,  Yancey?  and 
the  Rhetts  had  for  twenty  years  delighted  their  public 
were  now  to  be  regarded  as  superfluous  baggage.  It 
was  hardly  doubted  that  the  negro  would  fight  for  his 
liberty  ;  and  if  he  did  not  prove  as  courageous  as  Lee's 
veterans,  he  could  be  judiciously  distributed  among 
companies  of  white  soldiers  and  thus  gradually  be 
brought  to  the  point  of  standing  and  delivering  his 
fire.  It  is  needless  to  outline  the  details  of  the  plan, 
for  it  was  never  put  into  force. 

Benjamin  found  it  difficult  to  convince  his  chief  that 
such  a  step  was  necessary,  and  if  so,  that  the  plan 
could  be  made  effective.  It  was  indeed  a  bold  thing 
to  propose  to  Jefferson  Davis ;  but  the  Secretary  of 
State  had  the  full  confidence  of  the  President,  and  Lee, 
in  whom  all  men  had  implicit  faith,  was  known  to  favor 
the  enlistment  of  negro  troops.  Davis  yielded,  there 
fore,  and  agreed  to  make  tentative  reference  to  the 
subject  in  the  forthcoming  message. 

Meanwhile,  leading  publicists  had  been  plying  the 
editors  of  the  more  important  newspapers  with  long 
letters,  looking  toward  the  same  change  of  policy. 
Finally  the  Richmond  Enquirer  came  out  in  favor  of 
the  scheme  and  other  papers  spoke  mysteriously  of  a 
"last  alternative."  When  Congress  assembled,  it  was 
the  common  talk  of  Richmond  that  the  negroes  would 
be  armed,  if  worse  came  to  worse  ;  and  the  message, 
surely  enough,  contained  the  recommendation.  Though 
but  40,000  of  such  troops  were  thought  to  be  necessary 
at  the  time,  it  was  understood  that  the  President 
meant  far  more  than  he  said ;  only  for  consistency's 
sake  had  he  been  reticent.  Congress,  made  up  as  it 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDEEACY   345 

was  of  slave-owners,  did  not  relish  the  bitter  alterna 
tive  ;  K.  M.  T.  Hunter,  the  President  pro  tern,  of  the 
Senate,  was  decidedly  hostile  to  the  plan  and  so  ex 
pressed  himself  in  the  newspapers.  i  i  What  did  we  go 
to  war  for,  but  to  protect  our  property  in  slaves," 
was  the  gist  of  his  almost  sensational  declaration. 
Many  suggestions  were  made  by  anxious  members  of 
Congress,  but  the  forward  march  of  Sherman  toward 
the  sea  brought  unwilling  lawmakers  back  to  the  un 
welcome  subject.  As  is  usual  in  times  of  stress,  the 
remedy  was  postponed  until,  as  Davis  forcibly  re 
minded  his  panicky  Congress,  it  was  too  late ;  and 
when  a  law  was  finally  enacted,  Hunter  having  been 
forced  by  public  sentiment  in  Virginia  to  let  it  pass 
the  Senate,  it  was  such  a  lame  one  that  only  a  few  negro 
companies  were  ever  organized  under  it,  and  none  ever 
entered  the  Confederate  fighting  line. 

But  Stephens,  having  returned  from  the  field  of  un 
rest  and  downright  disloyalty  to  the  administration, 
proposed  stronger  measures  than  that  of  arming  the 
negroes.  In  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and  elsewhere, 
large  peace  meetings  had  been  held ;  and  the  poli 
ticians  had  begun  to  direct  public  sentiment  toward 
the  impossible  goal  of  a  convention  of  all  the  states,  in 
which  the  long  discussed  differences  of  North  and 
South  might  be  arbitrated.  Farmers  and  mechanics 
of  small  means,  who  had  never  been  enthusiastic  on  the 
subject  of  war  and  secession,  came  into  unaccustomed 
influence  ;  they  desired  peace  at  almost  any  price. 
Eeconstruction  brought  no  nightmares  to  their  tired 
spirits.  They  encouraged  every  effort  that  looked 
toward  that  end  but  opposed  any  policy  that 
gave  promise  of  conferring  citizenship  upon  the  negro. 


346  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

The  newspapers  also  seized  this  new  idea  with  avidity 
and  steadily  called  for  a  general  convention  as  though 
that  matter  did  not  rest  with  the  now  victorious  Ee- 
publicans  of  the  North.  The  notion  that  Davis  and 
the  politicians  in  power  desired  a  continuation  of  hos 
tilities  grew  and  spread.  It  was  generally  believed 
that  he  at  any  rate  would  never  consent  to  any  sort  of 
compromise,  because  of  his  own  feelings  and  personal 
situation  ;  and  a  majority  of  the  people  at  the  end  of 
1864  were  convinced  that  he  somehow  or  other 
had  been  the  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  war  thus 
far. 

Stephens  made  a  powerful  speech  in  the  Senate, 
arraigning  the  administration  for  incompetence,  bad 
judgment,  and  a  despotic  tendency.  He  declared  the 
war  a  failure  and  demanded  either  the  removal  of 
Davis  or  direct  negotiations  with  the  Washington 
government,  ignoring  the  Executive  altogether.  Eep- 
resentative  Atkins  of  Tennessee  became  his  spokesman 
in  the  House  and  secured  the  reference  of  his  resolu 
tions  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  of  which 
William  C.  Eives,  still  a  very  influential  man  in 
Virginia,  was  chairman.  After  much  deliberation, 
and  while  the  clamor  against  Davis  was  increasing- 
daily,  Eives  was  sent  to  confer  with  General  Lee  and 
find  out  if  he  would  consent  to  assume  the  sole  au 
thority  in  the  Confederacy,  proclaim  martial  law,  and 
carry  the  country  through  the  present  crisis.  No  one 
seems  to  have  doubted  his  ability  to  save  the  state,  if 
he  would  only  consent  to  do  so.  The  newspapers,  at 
least  some  of  them,  seem  to  have  been  let  into  the 
conspiracy,  for  they  called  now  for  a  dictator  after  the 
fashion  of  ancient  Eome.  Congress  became  well-nigh 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDEEACY      347 

unanimous  on  the  subject,  though  there  was  no  con 
stitutional  authority  for  any  such  procedure. 

The  greatest  blow  to  the  plan  of  those  who  would 
have  brought  about  a  counter-revolution,  was  the 
categorical  refusal  of  Lee  to  accept  the  dangerous 
commission  ;  and  after  a  very  disheartening  interview, 
Eives  returned  from  the  general's  headquarters  to 
report  his  failure.  Stephens  now  pressed  for  direct 
overtures  of  peace  to  the  Northern  administration. 
The  Committee  on  Foreign  Eelations,  by  a  vote  of 
eleven  to  two,  reported  favorably  to  Stephens' s  plans 
and  on  the  floor  of  the  House  the  majority  was  almost 
as  large,  though  a  few  stanch  friends  of  Davis  held 
out  to  the  last  and  stated  that  if  the  President  could 
not  save  the  country,  no  one  could.  Such  was  Lee's 
view  as  well.1 

The  Virginia  delegation  in  Congress  called  on  the 
President  to  warn  him  against  resisting  the  wishes  of 
that  body  and  asked  him  to  reorganize  his  cabinet ; 
and  the  Virginia  legislature,  perhaps  at  the  suggestion 
of  Davis  himself,  most  respectfully  suggested  to  the 
Confederate  Executive  that  he  appoint  Lee  general- 
iu- chief  of  all  the  armies.  Speaker  Bocock,  of  the 
House,  wrote  Davis  confidentially  that  he  must  do 
something,  else  its  members  could  not  be  restrained 
from  voting  a  lack  of  confidence  in  him  and  his  ad 
ministration.2  The  President  resented  this  attempt  at ' 
intimidation,  though  he  did  not  show  his  feelings  to 
the  public.  As  a  result  of  the  agitation,  James  A. 

1  Letter  of  Thomas  L.  Snead  to  Major  W.  T.  Walthall,  April, 
1878.  Snead  was  an  efficient  member  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs  and  was  present  at  all  its  meetings  during  this  crisis  ;  see 
Confederate  Museum  Papers. 

8  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XLVI,  p.  1118. 


348  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Seddon  resigned  from  the  cabinet.  When  Davis 
accepted  the  resignation,  he  protested  against  the 
interference  of  Congress  in  cabinet  affairs,  saying  that 
it  was  unconstitutional. 

It  was  at  this  critical  moment  that  F.  P.  Blair,  a 
former  close  friend  of  the  Davis  family,  came  to  Rich 
mond  on  his  well-known  peace  mission.  He  spent  a 
good  deal  of  his  time  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  William 
Stanard,  a  lady  whose  table  was  frequented  by  Stephens 
and  other  malcontents.  Blair  was  certainly  able  to 
learn  that  Congress  was  engaged  in  a  bitter  contro 
versy  with  the  President,  which  could  not  fail  to  add 
to  his  impression  that  the  South  was  tired  of  the  war. 
He  saw  Davis  on  January  12th  and  sought  his  approval 
of  a  plan  to  compromise  the  difficulties  between  the 
parties  to  it,  and  unite  the  armies  of  both  in  an  expe 
dition  to  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  upholding  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  and  expelling  the  so-called  emperor, 
Maximilian.  Remembering  the  warm  desire  of  the 
President  to  annex  a  large  portion  of  Mexico  in  1848, 
he  suggested  that  Davis  should  lead  the  army,  and 
that  after  the  French  were  out  of  the  way,  the  country 
should  become  a  part  of  the  United  States.1  But  the 
wheel  of  time  could  not  thus  be  set  back  to  1848. 
Davis,  after  a  patient  and  respectful  hearing,  gave  his 
friend  a  letter,  saying  that  he  always  stood  ready  to 
receive  any  commission  or  commissioner  whose  purpose 
was  the  restoration  of  peace  to  the  "two  countries." 

Blair  returned  to  Washington  and  obtained  a  note 

from  Lincoln,  saying  that  he  was  always  ready  to  receive 

without  ceremony  any  overture  for  the  restoration  of 

peace  "to  the  people  of  our  one  common  country. " 

1  Rhodes,  Vol.  V,  pp.  58-59. 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY      349 

Clearly  there  was  no  meeting  ground  for  the  authors 
of  these  letters.  Yet  Blair  hoped  to  accomplish  some 
thing  and  visited  Eichmond  a  second  time  bearing  the 
President's  meagre  message.  He  next  returned  to 
Washington  and  directed  his  efforts  to  securing  a 
military  convention,  but  Lincoln  was  not  less  op 
posed  to  concession  in  this  form  than  by  direct 
negotiation.  Davis  saw  plainly  enough  that  nothing 
but  submission  or  a  decisive  victory  would  bring 
peace.  Congress  thought  an  effort  to  treat  ought  to  be 
made ;  and  the  people  with  some  of  the  state  govern 
ments  agreed  with  that  body. 1 

Davis  took  advantage  of  this  state  of  things  to  bring 
the  machinations  of  Stephens  and  his  friends  to  an 
end,  as  well  as  to  convince  the  public  that  peace  could 
not  be  obtained  except  on  the  hard  terms  of  surrender 
or  by  heroic  resistance  on  the  field  of  battle.  He  ap 
pointed  Stephens,  Judge  J.  A.  Campbell,  and  E.  M.  T. 
Hunter  commissioners  to  meet  representatives  of  the 
United  States  government  and  secure  satisfactory  terms, 
if  possible,  on  the  irreconcilable  conditions  stated  in 
the  brief  notes  of  the  two  Presidents.  Stephens  was 
surprised  at  his  nomination  ;  he  accepted,  however, 
though  the  result  ought  to  have  been  foreseen.  He 
could  not  yield  what  the  United  States  demanded 
without  sacrificing  his  own  popularity.  If  he  failed, 
which  was  almost  certain,  an  end  must  be  made  of  all 
his  agitation  for  a  peaceful  settlement  and  Davis  would 
stand  justified.  Impeachment  of  the  President  and 
the  appointment  of  another  Executive  could  no  longer 
be  urged  by  the  Vice-President.  Even  Governors 
Vance  and  Brown  would  have  to  seize  one  or  the 
1  Rise  and  Fall,  Vol.  II,  pp.  612-617. 


350  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

other  of  the  horns  of  the  dilemma,  and  their  criticism 
of  the  administration  would  fall  to  the  ground.  Con 
gress  now  ceased  for  a  season  its  war  on  the  President 
and  by  way  of  relief  created  the  office  of  general-in- 
chief  of  the  Confederate  armies,  with  the  understanding 
that  Lee  was  to  be  appointed  to  the  place.  Davis 
received  the  proffered  olive  branch  and  promptly 
tendered  Lee  the  new  honor,  which  was  accepted  by 
that  popular  man. 

The  controversy  between  Johnston  and  the  Executive 
likewise  came  to  a  sudden  conclusion.  As  Sherman 
moved  northward  through  South  Carolina,  with  only 
slight  resistance  from  Beauregard  and  Wheeler,  who 
had  been  hastened  eastward  on  the  fall  of  Savannah, 
the  popular  cry  for  the  restoration  of  the  old  com 
mander  became  well-nigh  universal.  Davis  refused, 
but  found  a  way  to  yield  without  humiliation  by  allow 
ing  Lee  to  order  Johnston  to  the  required  position.  The 
task  was  a  delicate  one,  for  the  latter' s  animus  against 
Davis  had  been  caused  by  Lee's  elevation  over  him  ;  and 
the  great  chieftain  knew  only  too  well  the  character  of 
his  rival's  telegram  of  July  18th.  Lee  generously  in 
sisted  on  Johnston's  reinstatement,  and  took  his  place 
once  again  in  front  of  that  victorious  general,  Sherman, 
as  the  latter  advanced  into  North  Carolina. 

The  hopes  of  well-informed  Southerners — especially 
of  the  soldiers  of  Lee's  army — were  now  centred  in  the 
conference  which  was  to  take  place  between  Lincoln 
and  the  Confederate  commissioners.  The  people  of  the 
North  were  almost  equally  anxious  to  bring  about  a 
cessation  of  hostilities.  The  meeting  took  place  April 
3d,  on  a  United  States  steamer  in  Hampton  Eoads ; 
but  no  agreement  could  be  reached,  not  even  the 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY   351 

armistice  which  the  Richmond  authorities  had  prob 
ably  looked  for.  President  Lincoln  could  not  allow 
the  South  a  breathing  spell  without  jeopardizing  the 
cause — complete  reunion — for  which  he  stood  ;  though 
he  was  entirely  willing  to  do  what  he  could  to  make 
surrender  as  easy  as  possible  for  his  proud  foe.  He 
would  recommend  to  his  Congress  the  policy  of  paying 
for  the  slaves ;  he  would  make  easy  the  road  to  re 
construction.  But  Stephens  and  his  confreres  knew 
that  the  President  often  failed  to  carry  his  points  with 
that  body  and  they  knew,  too,  that  surrender  and  re 
construction  were  not  what  the  Confederate  Congress 
desired.  Independence  was  as  yet  the  sine  qua  non  in 
Richmond.  As  the  distinguished  civilians  passed 
back  through  Lee's  lines  and  the  whisper  of  failure 
reached  the  men,  there  was  every  demonstration  of 
sorrow  among  those  weather-beaten  veterans.  The 
two  armies  had  learned  to  admire  each  other  and 
warmly  did  they  hope  that  the  last  gun  had  been  fired, 
and  that  their  ranks  would  soon  be  broken,  never  to  be 
formed  again. 

The  report  of  the  commissioners  was  sent  at  once  to 
Congress,  accompanied  by  a  message  from  Davis  in 
which  he  said  :  i  i  The  enemy  refused  to  enter  into 
negotiations  with  the  Confederate  states,  or  with  any 
one  of  them  separately,  or  to  give  to  our  people  any 
other  terms  or  guaranties  than  those  which  the  con 
queror  may  grant,  or  to  permit  us  to  have  peace  on 
any  other  basis  than  our  unconditional  submission."  l 
Stephens  had  opposed  sending  a  written  report  to  that 
body — it  marked  the  close  of  all  his  efforts  in  negotia 
tion  ;  but  President  Davis  saw  clearly  that  such  acorn- 
1  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  519. 


352  JEFFEESON  DAYIS 

plete  failure  could  only  result  in  convincing  the  public 
that  he  had  not  been  in  error  when  he  avowed 
that  by  successful  war  alone  could  success  be  hoped 
for.  His  short  message  brought  Congress  to  his  feet 
for  the  last  time,  Stephens  himself  promising  to  return 
to  Georgia  to  "  fire  the  hearts  of  the  people."  What 
contradictions  does  the  life  of  this  brilliant  Southern 
leader  present !  Davis  attended  a  mass  meeting  of  the 
citizens  of  Eichmond  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day 
and  delivered  what  is  called  the  greatest  oration  of  his 
life.  Snow  lay  thick-  upon  the  ground  and  his  health 
was  so  bad  that  every  one  felt  he  was  endangering  his 
life  for  the  cause ;  but  what  had  not  this  thin  emaci 
ated  form  suffered  in  the  great  conflict?  What  mat 
tered  It  now  to  him  whether  he  lived  or  died,  if  the 
Confederacy  triumphed !  He  spoke  to  those  who,  in 
their  despair  a  ,few  days  before,  had  accused  him  of 
being  the  cause  of  their  ruin  and  who  had  talked  freely 
of  impeaching  him  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 
Now  all  was  changed  and  most  self-respecting  men 
sincerely  regretted  their  language.  Even  the  bitter 
Examiner )  whose  great  editor  had  been  recently  borne 
to  his  last  resting-place  in  Hollywood,  paused  a  mo 
ment  to  hear  the  President's  words. 

This  memorable  speech  began  with  a  regret  that 
they  were  not  celebrating  a  victory  ;  nevertheless,  he 
was  always  glad  to  meet  resolute  people,  who  would 
lay  all  they  had  upon  the  altar  of  their  country.  He 
had  never  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  expected 
peace  except  through  victory ;  but  the  President  of 
the  United  States  had  given  him  reason  to  believe  that 
a  conference  might  bring  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  and 
to  that  end  he  had  appointed  a  commission.  These 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDEEACY   353 

patriotic  gentlemen  were  not  to  consider  any  plan  not 
based  on  the  independence  of  the  South  ;  for  he  could 
never  consent  to  give  up  the  Confederacy.  With  it  he 
would  live  or  die.  Eepeating  what  Congress  had  re 
cently  declared  to  be  a  serious  blunder — the  assertion 
made  at  Macon  in  the  preceding  summer,  that  if  only 
half  the  absentees  of  the  Confederate  armies  would  return 
to  their  posts  of  duty  the  country  could  be  speedily 
saved — he  showed  that  he  realized  his  victory  over 
Congress  and  that  much  injustice  had  been  done  him 
by  that  body.  He  was  right  when  he  said  that  two- thirds 
of  the  men  who  ought  to  be  in  the  ranks  were  at  their 
homes.  i  i  Let  us  then  unite  our  hands  and  our  hearts, ' ' 
he  concluded  ;  "lock  our  shields  together  and  we  may 
well  believe  that  before  another  summer  solstice  falls 
upon  us,  it  will  be  the  enemy  who  will  be  asking  us 
for  conferences  and  occasions  in  which  to  make  known 
our  demands. "  l 

Eveiy  one  who  heard  this  address  admitted  that  it 
was  a  great  oration  ;  it  aroused  starving  Eichmond  to 
new  enthusiasm  and  set  other  gifted  speakers  to  calling 
upon  their  people  to  rally  once  more  to  the  great  cause. 
Lee  issued  an  address  to  his  troops  and  the  Governor 
of  Virginia  spoke  to  his  legislature  and  people  at  the 
foot  of  the  historic  Washington  monument  in  the 
Capitol  Square.  But  the  new  enthusiasm  did  not 
spread  far  and  the  misery  of  a  starving  army  soon 
oppressed  again  the  spirits  of  the  high  and  the 
low.  Lee  warned  Davis  that  the  physical  strength  of 
his  men  was  failing  and  that  he  must  not  be  surprised 
if  calamity  should  befall  the  army.  On  February  24th, 
the  great  general  complained  that  his  North  Carolina 
1  Richmond  Examiner,  February  7, 1865. 


354  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

soldiers,  influenced  by  accounts  of  things  at  home  and 
by  the  assertion  that  the  deserters  there  outnumbered 
the  home  guards,  were  leaving  in  large  numbers  and 
taking  their  arms  with  them.1  South  Carolinians  were 
likewise  deserting  in  squads  of  from  twenty -five  to 
fifty.  Newspapers  outside  of  Kichrnond  encouraged  the 
soldiers  to  save  themselves  as  from  a  burning  building.8 
There  were  perhaps  100,000  deserters  scattered  over  the 
Confederacy.  No  amount  of  oratory  could  reanimate 
the  cause,  for  the  people,  as  Joseph  E.  Johnston  said  a 
little  later  at  Greensboro,  were  tired  of  the  war  and  felt 
themselves  beaten. 

There  was  one  faint  hope  that  dimly  flickered  in  the 
Confederate  State  Department.  Congress  had  now 
decided  to  call  out  200,000  slaves  on  the  promise  of 
emancipation.  The  President  had  several  times  urged 
(/  such  a  step  and  Lee  was  advising  as  to  the  details  of 
the  scheme.  Under  these  reassuring  auspices  Benja 
min  had  sent  a  wealthy  Louisiana  friend  and  politi 
cian,  Duncan  F.  Kenner,  via  New  York  to  London,  to 
ask  for  European  assistance  on  the  basis  of  the  abolition 
of  slavery  and  a  liberal  supply3  of  cotton  for  the  hungry 
manufacturers  of  Manchester.  When  Congress  was 
about  to  adjourn  on  March  10th,  Davis  asked  them  to 
remain  awhile  longer  in  the  hope  of  favorable  news 
from  the  commissioner.  Benjamin  wore  his  accus 
tomed  smile,  and  James  Lyons,  an  intimate  at  the 
"  White  House,'7  seemed  hopeful.  But  a  few  days 

1  Official  Reports,  Series  I,  Vol.  XLVI.  Part  II,  pp.  1254,  1258, 
1293. 

2  Raleigh,  N.  C.  Progress,  and  Standard,  February  10th,  on. 

3  For  an  excellent  account  of  Kenner's  mission  as  well  as  of 
Confederate  diplomacy  in  general,   read    Callahan's    Diplomatic 
History  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDEEACY   355 

later,  no  favorable  reports  from  abroad  having  come, 
Davis  asked  Congress  to  confer  upon  him  the  authority 
to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  habeas  corpus, 
evidently  hoping  to  hold  out  against  all  odds  until 
Kenner's  mission  succeeded  or  failed.  The  reasonable 
request  was  denied  and  Congress  finally  adjourned  in  a 
bad  humor  and  with  only  slight  expectation  that  they 
would  ever  reassemble. 

The  Louisianian  met  with  some  success  in  borrowing 
money,  but  Lee  was  about  to  give  up  Petersburg. 
Davis  received  news  on  April  2d,  while  on  the  way 
from  his  house  to  church  *  that  he  would  have  to  un 
cover  Eichmond ;  this  rumor  was  confirmed  by  a 
telegram  from  the  commander-in-chief,  which  was 
received  during  the  services  in  St.  Paul's.  On  the 
receipt  of  this  message,  Davis  hastened  from  the 
building  and  called  his  cabinet  together  to  make 
the  final  arrangements  for  the  evacuation  of  the  cap 
ital.  These  preliminaries  having  been  arranged,  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  the  day  and  following  night 
arranging  his  papers.2  The  next  day,  April  3d,  a 
long  train  of  cars,  laden  with  the  archives  of  the 
Confederacy  and  crowded  with  civil  officials,  from 
the  President  himself  down  to  the  anxious  citizen 
who  had  forced  his  way  into  it,  drew  slowly  across 
the  James  Eiver.  Since  early  dawn  the  people  had 
been  hurrying  on  foot  or  in  cabs  and  wagons  from  their 
beloved  but  doomed  town.  Less  than  four  years  before 
they  had  joyously  greeted  this  same  President's  happy 
party  as  it  entered  the  city ;  now  they  spoke  but 
few  words  and  occasionally  let  fall  the  bitter  tear. 

1  Confederate  Museum  Papers. 

2  McClure's  Magazine,  December,  1900. 


356  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

Many  could  not  leave  ;  these  awaited  with  dignity  the 
approach  of  the  hated  enemy,  and  women  who  had 
othing  but  their  innocence  to  defend  them  undaunt 
edly  looked  the  irate  antagonist  full  in  the  face.  Those 
who,  then  and  two  days  later,  saw  the  burning  of  that 
ancient  town  describe  the  awful  scenes  there  witnessed 
and  the  wicked  deeds  performed,  even  now,  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  the  simplest  mind  realize  the  mean 
ing  of  u  pompous  war." 

The  Davis  train  dragged  along  the  Danville  Railroad 
at  the  rate  of  ten  miles  an  hour,  taking  all  day  and  the 
following  night  to  traverse  the  distance  which  is  now 
but  a  matter  of  three  or  four  hours.  The  strain  of  this 
slow  movement  can  be  realized  when  it  is  remembered 
that  Sheridan's  cavalry  were  on  the  lookout  for  the 
escaping  President  and  his  cabinet.  Every  member 
of  the  anxious  and  disconsolate  company  expected  at 
any  time  to  be  halted  by  a  detachment  from  the  army 
of  Grant  and  forced  to  surrender  at  discretion.  How 
ever,  they  reached  Danville  in  safety  and  the  new 
Executive  Office  was  established  in  the  house  of 
Colonel  Southerlin.  For  five  days  the  fleeing  Con 
federacy  waited  here  to  receive  news  from  Lee.  Davis 
issued  a  proclamation,  the  last  of  his  public  appeals, 
once  so  welcome  and  so  effective.  It  bore  the  date  of 
April  5th,  and  breathed  a  spirit  of  resolute  defiance  of 
fortune  and  the  victorious  enemy  which,  had  it  repre 
sented  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  the  South,  must 
have  proved  an  effective  influence  in  rallying  them  to 
their  cause.  He  called  upon  them  not  to  yield  their 
country  to  the  " polluting  foot"  of  the  invader.  The 
loss  of  Richmond  he  did  not  lament ;  he  would  regain 
Virginia  and  every  other  state  that  had  cast  in  its  lot 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY      357 

with  the  South.  He  would  "die  in  the  last  ditch," 
never  yielding  to  despondency  and  relying  upon  the 
' t  protecting  arm  of  our  God. "  "  Let  us  meet  the  foe, ' ' 
said  he,  l  i  with  firm  defiance,  with  unconquered  and 
unconquerable  hearts.7' l 

But  heroic  words  and  resolute  souls  could  not  coun 
teract  the  awful  news  which  Lee's  courier  brought  on 
the  afternoon  of  April  9th,  that  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  had  surrendered.  Seven  hours  later  the 
President's  train  started  southward  again,  hastening 
on  now  lest  some  of  Sherman's  cavalry  cut  the  road 
and  make  further  retreat  impossible.  Next  morn 
ing,  Davis,  with  his  cabinet  reached  Greensboro,  to 
find  the  snug  houses  of  this  comfortable  town  closed 
against  him.  The  latch-strings  of  his  own  people  were 
inside  of  their  doors  and  he  was  compelled  to  live  in 
uncomfortable  railway  cars  provided  with  none  of 
the  conveniences  which  render  a  modern  ' l  Pullman ' ' 
a  fairly  pleasant  place  of  residence  in  emergency. 
Greensboro  had  recently  held  a  Union  mass-meeting 
and  she  was  now  afraid  that  any  courtesy  shown  the 
President  of  the  broken  Confederacy  might  a  little 
later  prove  unprofitable.2 

Davis  and  the  members  of  his  cabinet,  except  Tren- 
holin  who  was  quite  ill  and  found  a  home  with 
Colonel  John  M.  Morehead,  spent  the  10th  and  llth 
of  April  in  their  uncomfortable  quarters,  improvising 
such  necessities  and  comforts  as  their  surroundings 
would  permit.  On  the  morning  of  the  12th  a  confer 
ence  was  held  in  the  house  of  Colonel  J.  Taylor  Wood, 

1  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  568. 

*McCIure's  Magazine,  December,  1900,  Secretary  Mallory's  ac 
count  of  the  stop  in  Greensboro. 


358  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

a  member  of  Davis' s  staff,  whose  family  was  living  in 
Greensboro.  Generals  Johnston  and  Beauregard, 
together  with  Breckinridge,  Benjamin,  Mallory,  Eea- 
gan,  and  George  Davis,  of  the  cabinet,  were  present. 
Davis  had  not  as  yet  admitted  the  necessity  of  giving 
up  the  struggle.  He  thought  of  making  a  bold  stand 
against  Sherman,  which  should  cover  a  retreat  through 
Charlotte  toward  north  Georgia.  He  had  already 
caused  supplies  to  be  collected  along  the  proposed  line 
of  flight.  Both  Johnston  and  Beauregard  discouraged 
further  resistance,  and  some  members  of  the  cabinet  coun 
seled  surrender.  It  was  a  sad  and  trying  meeting  to  the 
proud  and  unbending  spirit  of  Davis.  He  reluctantly 
assented  to  Johnston's  proposal  to  open  correspondence 
with  Sherman,  supposing,  however,  that  no  satisfactory 
terms  would  be  offered.  In  that  event  he  expected  to 
make  a  stand  in  Charlotte  and,  if  forced  to  yield, 
retreat  further  south  with  Texas  as  a  final  goal. 
General  Johnston  returned  to  his  headquarters  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Durham  and  sent  a  note  to  General 
Sherman,  asking  for  an  interview  with  the  expectation 
that  the  civil  authorities  of  the  l  i  two  countries  "  would 
settle  the  final  terms  of  surrender.  Sherman  promptly 
declined  to  recognize  any  but  the  military  power. 
Johnston  then  entered  into  negotiations  for  the  sur 
render  and  disbandment  of  his  forces. 1 

Meanwhile  the  President  and  his  party  journeyed 
leisurely  on  toward  Charlotte,  spending  the  night  of 
the  16th  of  April  at  the  home  of  the  Barringers  in 

lRise  and  Fall,  Vol.  II,  pp.  679-690;  Johnston's  Narrative, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  396-408  ;  Letter  of  George  Davis  to  Jefferson  Davis, 
October  13,  1880;  Mallory 's  account  in  McClure's  Magazine,  De 
cember,  1900. 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY   359 

Lexington.  The  next  evening  they  were  in  Salisbury  ; 
the  following  in  the  small  town  of  Concord.  On  the 
19th,  Davis  dismounted  in  Charlotte,  where  the  lead 
ing  citizens  had  generously  thrown  open  their  doors 
to  the  distressed  Confederacy.  Here  he  received  a 
telegram,  announcing  the  assassination  of  President 
Lincoln.  He  said  to  those  around  him  :  "I  certainly 
have  no  special  regard  for  Mr.  Lincoln  ;  but  there  are 
a  great  many  men  of  whose  end  I  would  much  rather  ; 
have  heard  than  his."  l  Here  also  Davis  received  the 
articles  of  surrender  first  agreed  upon  by  Sherman  and 
Johnston.  A  cabinet  meeting  was  called  and  the  pro 
posed  arrangement  between  the  two  opposing  generals 
discussed  and  approved.  The  desperate  situatioa 
of  the  Confederate  government  seems  now  to  have* 
been  appreciated.  Davis  had  been  collecting  some 
scattered  regiments  of  soldiers  in  and  around  Char 
lotte;  his  cabinet,  loath  to  tell  him  their  full 
thoughts,  had  not  before  pressed  upon  him  the 
necessity  of  disbanding,  and  seeking  personal  safety 
in  flight  to  some  port,  whence  they  might  sail  for 
Europe.  His  counselors  now  began  to  take  their 
leave.  George  Davis,  the  attorney-general,  turned 
his  steps  toward  his  home  in  eastern  North  Carolina  ; 
Treuholm  was  too  ill  to  leave  Charlotte  ;  Benjamin, 
Eeagan,  and  Mallory  remained  with  the  President  for 
the  present  and,  escorted  by  some  hundreds  of  cavalry 
not  included  in  the  terms  of  surrender  by  Johnston, 
hastened  on  toward  Yorkville,  S.  C.,  not  yet  sure 
where  they  would  go. 

The    enemy  was    already  on  their    trail   and  the 
danger  of  capture  increased  with  every  hour.     The 
1  Mallory's  account. 


360  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

fact  that  Davis  had  brought  with  him  $500,000  (rumor 
estimated  it  at  five  or  six  millions),  increased  the  zest 
of  his  pursuers.  Dramatic  interest  attaches  to  the 
flight  from  Charlotte,  because  it  was  Joseph  E.  Johns 
ton's  act  in  giving  up  all  his  forces  promptly  after  the 
first  Sherman-Johnston  agreement,  that  left  Davis 
unprotected  and  without  time  to  reach  the  coast. 
Wade  Hampton,  who  was  not  present  at  the  second 
conference  of  Johnston  and  Sherman,  and  who  opposed 
the  surrender,  sought  to  detach  his  cavalry  corps 
and  escort  Davis  to  the  Mississippi,  or  cover  his 
retreat  and  escape  by  manoeuvring  in  front  of  Sher 
man's  or  other  Union  cavalry  detachments ;  but  Johns 
ton  declined  to  except  Hampton's  men  from  the 
capitulation.  The  brave  and  loyal  South  Carolinian 
refused  to  surrender  in  person  and  collecting  what 
stragglers  he  could,  offered  his  services  to  his  chieftain 
at  the  risk  of  being  declared  an  outlaw  and  public 
enemy.  Davis  appreciated  the  loyal  spirit  of  Hampton 
and  both  he  and  Mrs.  Davis  regarded  Johnston's  con 
duct  as  treacherous. 1  They  thought  the  general  had 
purposely  exposed  them  to  capture,  which  was  tanta 
mount  to  the  execution  of  Davis,  if  the  sentiment  of 
the  North  meant  anything. 

From  Charlotte  some  $40, 000  in  silver  was  sent  to 
Johnston's  army  to  be  distributed  among  the  troops, 
whose  pay  was  sadly  in  arrears  ;  $230, 000  of  the  specie 
was  either  returned  to  Eichmond  banks,  to  whom  it 
belonged,  or  delivered  to  their  agents.  The  party  now 
hastened  on  to  Abbeville,  S.  C.,  where  Mrs.  Davis 
was  sojourning  for  a  few  days ;  but  on  receiving  in- 

1  Letter  of  Mrs.  Davis,  undated,  but  written  from  Washing 
ton,  Ga.,  a  day  or  two  later. 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDEKACY   361 

structious  from  her  husband,  she  departed  before 
his  arrival  on  May  3d.  She  wrote  him  a  letter  from 
Washington,  Ga.,  whither  she  had  gone  with  Bur 
ton  N.  Harrison,  the  faithful  private  secretary.  The 
letter  was  undated  and  unsigned.  It  read  : 

"  My  Dearest  Barny  :  The  young  gentleman  who 
will  hand  you  this  is  just  going  by  Abbeville,  and  I 
cannot  refrain  from  expressing  my  intense  grief  at  the 
treacherous  surrender  of  this  department.  May  God 
grant  you  a  safe  conduct  out  of  this  maze  of  events.  I 
do  believe  you  are  safer  without  the  country  than 
within  it,  and  I  so  dread  their  stealing  a  march  and 
surprising  you.  I  left  Abbeville  against  my  convic 
tions  but  agreeable  to  Mr. 's  and  Mr.  Harrison's 

opinion.  Now  the  danger  of  being  caught  here  by  the 
enemy  and  of  being  deprived  of  our  transportation, 
if  we  stay,  is  hurrying  me  out  of  Washington.  I  shall 
wait  here  this  evening  until  I  hear  from  the  courier 
we  have  sent  to  Abbeville.  I  have  given  up  the  hope 
of  seeing  you  but  it  is  not  for  long.  Mr.  Harrison 
now  proposes  to  go  on  a  line  between  Macon  and 
Augusta,  and  to  avoid  the  Yankees  by  sending  some 
of  our  picked  escort  on  before,  and  to  make  toward 
Pensacola — and  take  a  ship  or  what  else  I  can.  .  .  . 
We  are  short  of  funds  and  I  do  not  see  why  these 
trains  of  specie  should  be  given  up  to  the  Yankees, 
but  still  I  think  we  will  make  out  somehow.  May  the 
Lord  have  you  in  His  holy  keeping  I  constantly  and 
earnestly  pray.  I  look  upon  the  precious  little  charge 
I  have  and  wonder  if  I  shall  [unite  ?]  it  with  you  soon 
again,.  The  children  are  all  well.  Pie  was  vaccinated 
on  the  roadside.  I  heard  there  was  smallpox  on  the 
road.  She  is  well  so  far.  The  children  have  been 


362  JEFFEESON  DAYIS 

more  than  good  and  talk  much  of  you.  Oh,  my 
dearest,  precious  husband,  the  one  absorbing  love  of 
my  whole  life,  may  God  keep  you  from  harm."  * 

To  this  letter  Davis  replied,  insisting  on  continued 
separation  as  a  means  of  safety.  At  this  trying  time 
he  was  disposed  to  distrust  everyone.  "  I  have  the 
bitterest  disappointment  in  regard  to  the  feeling  of 
our  troops,  and  would  not  have  any  one  I  love  de 
pendent  upon  their  resistance  against  an  equal 
force."2  This  was  on  May  3d;  the  next  day  they 
crossed  the  Savannah  Eiver,  hastening  on  to  Wash 
ington.  Benjamin  and  Mallory  now  left  the  President 
to  his  fortunes  ;  Breckinridge  continued  with  him 
until  he  reached  the  Georgia  town,  whence  Davis 
pursued  a  different  route  toward  southern  Florida.  It 
was  here  that  the  remnant  of  the  troops  who  had  fol 
lowed  the  party  from  Charlotte  were  dismissed,  each 
being  given  a  share  of  the  gold  and  silver  which  had 
thus  far  been  a  hindrance  rather  than  an  aid  to  all 
concerned.  Taking  ten  trusty  men  for  his  special  es 
cort,  Davis  with  Eeagan  hurried  on  through  Laurens, 
Dodge,  and  Irwin  Counties.  He  overtook  Mrs. 
Davis' s  party  before  they  had  gone  far,  and  near  Dub 
lin  they  were  sighted  by  United  States  troops. 

Andrew  Johnson,  who  had  never  been  reconciled  to 
Davis  since  an  ugly  debate  between  them  in  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives  in  1845,  was  now  President.  He 
proclaimed  Davis  an  outlaw  for  supposed  connection 
with  the  conspiracy  to  assassinate  Lincoln  and  offered 
a  reward  of  $100,000  for  his  capture.  It  was  a  strange 
fortune  that  made  him  dependent  for  protection  upon 

1  Confederate  Museum  Papers. 

2  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XLIX,  Part  II,  p.  1277. 


COLLAPSE  OF  THE  CONFEDEBACY   363 

Joseph  E.  Johnston  in  the  last  days  of  the  Confederacy, 
and  a  still  stranger  one  that  elevated  the  shoe 
maker  of  Tennessee  to  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States  at  the  time  when  the  proud  senator  from  Mis 
sissippi  was  a  fugitive  before  the  offended  and  enraged 
military  power  of  that  government. 

Two  miles  northeast  of  Irwinsville,  Ga.,  at  early 
dawn  on  May  10th,  Davis  and  his  party  were  surprised 
by  a  troop  of  United  States  cavalry  under  the  com 
mand  of  Colonel  Benjamin  D.  Pritchard.  Aroused  by 
the  mistaken  firing  of  two  parties  of  Union  forces, 
the  President  was  apprised  of  his  danger.  He  dressed 
hurriedly  and  in  the  dark.  Mrs.  Davis  aided  him 
and  undoubtedly  caused  him  to  put  on  one  of  her 
garments  and,  at  the  last  moment,  threw  a  shawl  about 
his  shoulders  in  the  hope  that  the  disguise  might  en 
able  him  to  escape  the  vigilance  of  his  pursuers. 
What  woman  would  not  have  done  so,  and  what  hus 
band  thus  pressed  and  under  the  full  conviction  that 
capture  meant  death  would  have  refused  a  wife's  tear 
ful  entreaties  f  And  the  ruse  came  near  being  success 
ful.  Davis  had  gone  some  distance  from  the  tent  and 
from  the  centre  of  the  scene  when  in  the  gray  dawn  he 
was  detected  and  captured.  He  was  humiliated  and 
ashamed  of  his  garb  as  any  other  man  would  have 
been.  For  a  moment  he  thought  of  fighting  his  way 
through  the  enemy's  cordon  or  of  giving  up  his  life  in 
the  effort.  Drawing  a  bowie-knife  and  moving 
toward  his  captors,  he  was  nevertheless  brought  to 
give  up  his  desperate  resolve  when  a  dozen  revolvers 
sprang  from  the  belts  of  Pritchard' s  men.  A  moment 
later  he  contemplated  a  sudden  attack  on  a  horseman 
standing  near  him.  His  aim  was,  thanks  to  the  cav- 


364  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

airy  training  of  his  young  manhood,  to  throw  his  cap 
tor  from  the  saddle  quickly,  mount  the  steed  himself, 
and  hasten  away  to  the  southward  as  fast  as  horse 
flesh  could  take  him.  Mrs.  Davis,  however,  seized 
him  fast  around  the  arms  and  rendered  the  feat  im 
possible.  He  was  now  conducted  to  Macon  and  there 
turned  over  to  General  James  H.  Wilson,  the  highest 
United  States  officer  in  this  region.  The  career  of 
President  Davis  was  at  an  end.  Henceforth  history 
knows  him  only  as  a  helpless  prisoner  or  private 
country  gentleman. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

AFTER  THE  WAR 

THE  journey  to  Macon  was  made  unpleasant  by  the 
jeers  of  the  captors  and  by  the  exhibition  to  the  party 
of  President  Johnson's  manifesto.  Davis  learned  for 
the  first  time  that  a  reward  had  been  put  upon  his 
head  and  that  the  specific  charge  against  him  was  that 
he  had  conspired  with  John  Wilkes  Booth  to  assassin 
ate  President  Lincoln.  He  readily  recognized  the 
hand  of  Andrew  Johnson  in  all  this — the  hand  of  him 
who  had  long  been  a  bitter  personal,  as  well  as 
political,  enemy. 

With  a  few  tried  friends  who  still  adhered  to  the 
fortunes  of  their  fallen  chieftain  and  with  his  family 
clinging  to  his  skirts,  all  astonished  that  murder,  not 
treason,  was  to  be  the  plea  of  the  United  States  for  his 
trial  and  execution,  he  was  led  into  the  presence  of 
General  Wilson.  The  captive  had  known  Wilson  at 
West  Point,  where  he  had  spent  some  time  as  a  visitor 
in  the  summer  of  1860,  but  this  did  not  prevent  the 
general  from  calling  his  prisoner's  attention  to  the 
contents  of  the  President's  vindictive  proclamation. 
Davis  replied  that  none  knew  better  than  Johnson 
himself  that  he  could  not  have  desired  the  death  of 
Lincoln,  when  this  meant  the  elevation  of  a  foe. 
This  remark,  which  was  reported  to  the  White  House, 


366  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

did  not  tend  to  ameliorate  the  conditions  of  the  long 
prison  life  which  followed. 

From  Macon,  Davis  was  sent  to  Augusta,  Ga.,  where 
Vice- President  Stephens  joined  the  party  as  a  captive. 
Together  these  erstwhile  Confederate  rivals  and  oppo 
nents  journeyed  by  sea  to  Norfolk,  Va.  Mrs.  Davis 
and  her  little  children  had  accompanied  the  prisoner  ; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  C.  Clay  of  Alabama  were  also  with 
them.  After  some  days  spent  on  the  ship  under  the 
closest  surveillance,  Stephens  was  transferred  to  an 
other  boat  and  sent  to  prison  in  Fort  Warren,  in 
Boston  harbor.  Davis  was  placed  in  a  casemate  in 
Fortress  Monroe.  The  light  was  bad,  ventilation 
worse,  and  the  atmosphere  exceedingly  damp.  The 
bed  on  which  he  lay  was  below  the  water  level  in  the 
bay.  Four  or  five  days  after  the  arrival  of  "  State 
Prisoner  Davis,'7  and  after  his  family  had  been  for 
bidden  to  remain  with  him  or  in  Virginia  or  Maryland, 
General  Nelson  A.  Miles,  who  had  been  given  the 
custody  of  the  distinguished  captive,  ordered  irons  to 
be  riveted  to  his  ankles.  The  officer  of  the  day  whose 
disagreeable  duty  it  was  to  superintend  this  petty 
work  on  behalf  of  his  own  government,  hesitated 
when  he  met  with  resistance,  but  soon  resumed  his 
task  with  the  aid  of  half  a  dozen  private  soldiers. 
Davis  was  thrown  down  and  held  fast  while  the  work 
was  performed.  The  officer  was  ashamed  of  the  deed ; 
General  Miles  absented  himself  from  the  grounds, 
while  the  order  of  Secretary  Stanton,  a  former  Demo 
crat  who  had  cooperated  with  Davis  in  the  Breckin- 
ridge  campaign  of  1860,  was  being  executed.  All 
books,  except  the  Bible,  were  denied  the  prisoner ;  no 
one  might  visit  him ;  no  friendly  voice  was  heard  for 


AFTEE  THE  WAR  367 

many  long  weeks  in  this  dismal  dungeon.  Letters 
from  Mrs.  Davis  were  not  allowed  to  be  delivered 
until  after  they  had  been  inspected  by  General  Miles, 
and  no  replies  were  permitted  except  on  the  same 
conditions.  Boxes  of  appetizing  food  and  of  fresh 
underwear  were  retained  by  the  order  of  the  United 
States  government  and  their  contents  doled  out  by  the 
jailers  as  suited  their  convenience.  In  order  that 
" treason  might  be  made  odious,"  the  high-wrought 
Davis  was  forced  thus  to  remain  in  close  confinement, 
with  a  lighted  lamp  shedding  its  rays  by  day  and  by 
night,  full  on  his  face  ;  with  the  tramp  of  two  sentinels 
falling  incessantly  on  the  stone  floor  of  the  cell,  and 
with  the  eyes  of  a  special  guard  peering  at  him.  He 
soon  fell  ill,  his  appetite  became  poor,  neuralgia  ap 
peared  in  his  face  and  head,  a  carbuncle  on  his  thigh, 
his  eyesight  began  to  fail,  and  his  general  vitality 
yielded  daily  to  the  torture  he  was  undergoing.  The 
physician,  Dr.  J.  J.  Craven,  reported  again  and  again 
that  the  life  of  his  patient  was  in  danger ;  but  the 
rigorous  regime  continued  until  late  in  the  autumn 
when,  after  months  of  persuasion,  such  distinguished 
Northern  men  as  Horace  Greeley,  Henry  J.  Eaymond, 
and  Charles  O'Connor  having  taken  up  his  cause,  he 
was  given  new  and  more  comfortable  quarters.  Late  in 
November,  when  Dr.  Craven  seemed  to  become  too 
intimate  with  his  patient — for  Davis  was  ill  a  large 
portion  of  the  time — and  ordered  an  overcoat  for  him 
from  a  Washington  tailor,  he  was  reprimanded  and 
forbidden  to  talk  to  the  prisoner  except  on  professional 
matters.  It  was  not  long  before  he  was  removed. 
Dr.  Cooper,  his  successor,  second  surgeon  for  this  post, 
was  of  the  same  mind  as  his  predecessor  and  soon 


368  JEFFEBSOX  DAVIS 

began  to  recommend  a  change  of  regime  and  better 
treatment  unless  the  government  desired  the  captive 
to  die  under  his  sufferings.  * 

General  Miles  was  transferred  to  another  post  in  the 
early  summer  of  1866  ;  opinion  in  Washington  began 
to  change  and  Davis7  s  lot  was  made  easier.  Mrs. 
Davis  called  several  times  on  the  President  and,  despite 
her  contempt  for  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  nation, 
pleaded  her  husband's  cause.  She  received  the  reply 
that  public  sentiment  in  the  North  and  the  bitter  hos 
tility  of  the  Thaddeus  Stevens  group  in  Congress  had 
been  responsible  for  the  rough  treatment  of  the  captive. 
As  the  summer  of  1866  wore  on,  Davis  and  his  family, 
now  reunited,  were  allowed  rooms  in  Carroll  Hall,  a 
commodious  house  within  the  bounds  of  the  Fort,  and 
life  became  more  pleasant.  The  " State  Prisoner" 
was  allowed  the  freedom  of  the  place.  His  friends 
came  from  Baltimore,  Washington,  and  Bichniond  to 
pay  their  tribute  of  respect  and  devotion. 

Meanwhile  Secretary  Stanton  and  Judge- Advocate- 
General  Joseph  Holt  had  planned  to  bring  him  to 
trial.  They  searched  the  departments  for  letters  to 
Davis  while  he  was  Secretary  of  War ;  brought  sub 
orned  witnesses  to  Washington  to  testify  to  his  con 
nection  with  the  assassins  of  President  Lincoln,  but  all 
to  no  purpose.  The  necessary  evidence  was  not  forth 
coming  and  this  ridiculous  charge  fell  to  the  ground. 
Then  the  policy  of  proceeding  on  the  charge  of  treason 
was  taken  up.  Chief- Justice  Chase,  who  was  never 
quite  satisfied  with  the  outcome  of  the  war,  feared  an 
acquittal,  which  would  have  put  the  government  in  a 

1  Letter  to  President  Johnson,  May  9,  1866.  In  Johnson  Papers, 
Library  of  Congress. 


AFTER  THE  WAR  369 

serious  predicament.  Both  the  President  and  General 
Grant,  now  the  most  influential  man  in  the  country, 
opposed  the  plan  of  a  trial  on  this  charge.  The  latter 
had  never  desired  severe  measures  to  be  inaugurated, 
and  the  President  had  repented  of  his  former  animus, 
though  Davis  was  still  kept  under  close  surveillance. 

According  to  American  law,  he  had  a  case  against 
the  government,  and  it  was  time  for  habeas  corpus  pro 
ceedings  to  issue  on  his  behalf.  It  was  known  that  he 
could  not  be  lawfully  arraigned  and  tried  in  any  other 
than  the  Richmond  district  of  the  Federal  judicial 
system.  To  carry  him  to  another,  as  was  suggested 
by  Stanton,  would  have  subjected  the  administration 
to  severe  criticism.  But  no  Virginia  jury  would  find 
a  true  bill  against  their  recent  chieftain.  In  fact,  a 
li  satisfactory "  jury  in  such  a  case  would  be  impos 
sible  because  of  the  certain  publicity  of  the  thing  j 
not  to  pack  it  meant  the  release  of  the  prisoner  with 
every  accusation  of  the  Federal  government  pro 
nounced  false.  The  President  and  others  sought, 
therefore,  to  procure  from  Davis  an  application  for 
pardon.  This  the  prisoner  refused  to  the  last,  for, 
said  he,  uto  ask  pardon  would  be  a  confession  of 
guilt."  Finally,  on  May  4,  1867,  Davis  was  con 
ducted  to  Richmond,  where  his  case  was  to  be  heard. 
When  the  ex- President  reached  the  Spottswood 
Hotel,  a  greater  concourse  of  people  greeted  him 
than  that  which  had  assembled  at  the  same  place  in 
1861  to  pay  their  respect  to  their  then  newly  chosen 
leader.  On  the  morrow  he  appeared  before  District 
Judge  Underwood  in  the  building  on  Main  Street 
where  the  Confederacy  had  made  its  headquarters 
during  the  war.  He  was  set  free  on  a  bond  signed  by 


370  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

Horace  Greeley,  Gerrit  Smith,  and  other  former  oppo 
nents  of  the  South.  All  Eichmond  donned  gala  attire 
on  receipt  of  the  good  news,  and  wept  for  joy  at  the 
final  release  of  their  chieftain.  The  whole  South  re 
joiced  likewise  at  the  liberation  of  him  on  whom  the 
penalty  for  secession  had  been  visited.  George  Davis 
wrote  his  son  from  Eichmond,  May  15,  1867  :  "I  have 
never  seen  this  city  in  such  a  state  of  pleased  excite 
ment  except  upon  the  news  of  a  Confederate  victory. 
Men  and  women  in  tears  was  a  common  sight  and  the 
ladies  say  they  are  very  much  afraid  they  will  have  to 
love  the  Yankees  a  little.  Mr.  Davis,  though  looking 
better  than  I  expected,  is  only  the  shadow  of  his  former 
self,  but  with  all  his  dignity  and  high,  unquenchable 
manhood.  As  he  entered  the  densely  crowded  court 
room,  with  his  proud  step  and  lofty  look,  every  head 
reverently  bowed  to  him  and  a  stranger  would  have 
sworn  that  he  was  the  judge  and  Underwood  the 
culprit."1 

The  released  prisoner  proceeded  at  once  to  Canada 
to  meet  his  family  and  others,  whom  the  fortunes  of 
war  had  driven  into  exile.  By  the  generosity  of  South 
ern  towns  and  Southern  citizens,  Mrs.  Davis  had  been 
able  to  make  for  him  a  modest  home  near  Montreal 
where  their  four  children  were  at  school.  Here  James 
M.  Mason  visited  "the  President"  to  talk  over  the 
failure  of  their  magnificent  plans  of  a  few  years  before. 
A  colony  of  "Confederates"  furnished  him  congenial 
company  in  this  Northern  land.  In  October  Davis 
was  summoned  again  to  appear  in  the  United  States 
Court  at  Eichmond.  But  his  able  attorney,  Charles 

1  For  this  and  other  letters  of  Attorney-General  George  Davis, 
the  author  is  indebted  to  Junius  Davis,  Esq.,  Wilmington,  N.  C. 


AFTEE  THE  WAE  371 

O'Connor,    brought    news    that    the    suit  had  been 
"  quashed  "  and  he  felt  free  once  again,  though  he  had  >w  / 
hoped  to  be  tried  for  treason,  so  sure  was  he  that  he      ) 
and  his  great  cause  would  be  vindicated. 

As  the  Canadian  winter  proved  too  rigorous  for 
his  nervous,  feeble  frame,  he  journeyed  to  Cuba,  there 
to  receive  the  attentions  of  the  leading  citizens  and 
officials  of  the  island.  Next  he  appeared  in  New 
Orleans,  where  the  people  crowded  about  his  hotel  as 
though  he  had  been  a  hero  of  many  battles  returning 
to  his  native  city.  His  vicarious  sufferings  had 
warmed  the  hearts  of  Southern  men  as  nothing  else 
could  have  done.  Eespousive  always  to  popular  ap 
plause,  he  felt  deeply  the  returning  gratitude  of  his 
people.  From  New  Orleans  he  visited  Vicksburg  and 
the  country  around  his  beloved  "Brierfield,"  to  find 
his  fertile  lands  overgrown  with  weeds  and  brambles, 
the  houses  burned  to  the  ground  and  the  former  negro 
slaves  scattered  about  the  neighborhood  "  making  a 
living"  as  best  they  could.  No  patriotic  German  of 
the  seventeenth  century  could  have  visited  a  more 
forlorn  and  saddening  region  than  that  which  greeted 
the  eye  of  the  returning  Confederate  chieftain  as  he 
looked  upon  the  country  around  Davis  Bend  in  the 
spring  of  1868. 

Overcome  with  the  thought  of  his  desolated  Mis 
sissippi  and  receiving  a  severe  injury  from  a  fall, 
his  health  seemed  about  to  break  down  permanently. 
He  decided,  on  the  advice  of  his  physician,  to 
spend  a  year  in  Europe  where  entire  change  of  sur 
roundings  might  restore  his  physical  strength.  Ee- 
turning  to  Canada,  he  embarked  with  his  family 
from  Quebec.  England  loves  to  strew  roses  in  the 


372  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

paths  of  discrowned  kings  and  Davis  was  hardly 
an  exception  to  the  rule.  Noble  lords  invited  him  to 
their  country  and  town  residences.  At  Leamington 
he  was  the  fashion  and  in  London  the  Houses  of  Parlia 
ment  vied  with  each  other  to  show  him  respect. 
Crossing  over  to  Paris,  he  renewed  his  long  and  inti 
mate  acquaintance  with  Slidell  and  A.  Dudley  Mann. 
He  was  invited  to  the  Imperial  court,  while  Mrs. 
Davis  received  attentions  from  the  incomparable 
Empress  Eugenie.  Parades  were  held  in  his  honor 
and  cards  were  sent  him  to  attend  mass  in  the  Napo 
leonic  chapel.  But  Davis  felt  that  the  French  mon 
arch  had  played  him  false  in  the  matter  of  Confederate 
recognition  and  declined  to  see  his  Majesty.  The 
dignity  of  the  "Senator  from  Mississippi"  still  re 
mained. 

Beturning  to  London,  the  cheerful  countenance  of 
Secretary  Benjamin,  already  risen  to  the  rank  of 
Queen's  counselor,  was  seen.  Together  they  talked 
over  the  old  Eichmond  days,  without  apparent  regret 
or  bitterness  on  the  part  of  the  famous  attorney.  His 
health  continuing  poor,  Davis  went  to  Scotland,  visited 
that  staunch  friend  of  the  South,  James  Smith,  of 
Glasgow,  who  had  given  a  fine  battery  to  the  Confed 
erate  cause  ;  but  he  never  found  the  vigor  of  which  he 
was  in  quest,  though  he  was  much  improved  by  the 
autumn  of  1869. 

He  now  received  notice  of  his  election  to  the  presi 
dency  of  an  insurance  company  in  Memphis,  Tenn. 
Leaving  his  family  in  London,  he  returned  alone  to 
America,  and  after  arranging  business  matters,  he 
went  once  again  to  England  to  bring  them  to  their 
new  place  of  residence.  Putting  the  older  children  to 


AFTER  THE  WAE  373 

school  in  Maryland,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis  "settled" 
in  Memphis  as  they  thought  for  the  remainder  of  their 
lives.  The  people  of  the  city  purchased  a  handsome 
residence  for  the  distinguished  newcomer,  but  the 
pride  and  sense  of  fitness  so  strongly  rooted  in  Davis' s 
nature  forced  him  to  decline  the  offer.  He  bought 
and  furnished  his  own  home  and  began  with  zest  the 
new  business  of  life  insurance.  He  invested  some  of 
the  meagre  remains  of  his  fortune  in  the  venture,  but 
in  1874  the  company  failed  and  with  it  went  the  much 
needed  money  of  the  ex-President — too  old  now  to 
start  afresh  in  life. 

His  troubles,  as  though  fortune  had  not  dealt  hardly 
enough  with  him,  now  thickened.  On  the  day  he 
sailed  from  England  to  take  up  his  new  position,  he 
received  a  message  that  his  beloved  brother,  Joseph 
E.  Davis,  was  dead.  In  1874,  just  before  the  failure 
of  his  insurance  company,  his  little  son  William  was 
taken  with  diphtheria  and  died  in  a  few  days.  An 
other  son  had  fallen  from  a  window  of  the  mansion 
in  Eichmond  during  the  war  and  was  killed.  There 
were  now  left  to  him  one  boy,  Jefferson,  and  one  girl, 
"  Winnie,"  besides  Mrs.  J.  A.  Hayes,  an  older  daugh 
ter  who  had  settled  in  Memphis  a  few  years  earlier. 
The  death  of  Joseph  E.  Davis  caused  both  the  "Hur 
ricane  ' '  and  the  ' l  Brierfield ' '  estates  to  be  thrown  into 
courts,  encumbered  as  they  were  with  debt.  After  a 
protracted  lawsuit,  "Brierfield'7  was  in  part  recov 
ered,  and  from  these  lands  Davis  hoped  to  support  his 
little  family  ;  but  again  his  health  broke  down  and  he 
was  advised  to  go  once  more  to  Europe,  where,  as  on 
his  earlier  visits,  he  received  much  attention.  He 
saw  Paris  under  the  early  Eepublic  and,  though  dis- 


374  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

pleased  with  the  Emperor,  sympathized  with  the 
fallen  Bonapartes  in  their  weary  exile.  The  catas 
trophe  of  Sedan  had  been  even  greater  than  the  col 
lapse  of  the  Confederacy. 

Filled  as  of  old  with  imperial  notions  on  behalf  of 
his  beloved  South,  he  strove  on  his  return  to  Memphis 
to  organize  an  international  enterprise  which  should 
have  for  its  end  the  upbuilding  of  New  Orleans  and 
the  cities  of  the  lower  South.  Two  companies,  bear 
ing  the  name  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Society,  one 
composed  of  English,  the  other  of  American  capitalists, 
were  formed.  Then,  as  now,  the  rich  trade  of  South 
America  was  monopolized  by  London  and  Liverpool 
merchants,  and  raw  products  of  Brazil  destined  to  be 
consumed  in  the  United  States  were  exchanged  against 
English  manufactures  to  be  reshipped  to  New  York. 
Nothing  would  seem  more  natural  than  a  brisk  trade 
between  the  two  Americas.  To  bring  about  this  proper 
and  profitable  state  of  affairs  Davis  bent  his  energies 
in  1876  and  1877.  He  visited  England  to  stir  up  interest 
and  cooperation  and  again  turned  his  attention  to  New 
Orleans  and  the  river  and  coast  cities  of  the  Gulf 
region.  His  elastic  spirits  and  buoyant  vigor  warmed 
to  the  great  undertaking ;  his  health  seemed  restored 
and  he  looked  forward,  despite  his  seventy  toilsome 
years,  to  a  career  of  usefulness  and  possible  financial 
independence. 

But  he  was  destined  to  fail  again.  The  fatal  pro 
tective  tariff,  rising  after  the  close  of  the  war  rather 
than  declining,  made  his  beneficent  scheme  problem 
atical.  And  the  force  of  habit,  too,  kept  ships  of  trade 
in  their  beaten  paths.  Besides,  now  as  in  the  days  of 
his  magnificent  fight  for  the  Southern  Pacific  Eailway, 


AFTER  THE  WAB  375 

the  combined  energies  of  Northern  capital  and  New 
England  enterprise  were  against  him.  In  the  autumn 
of  1877  he  saw  all  his  projects  come  to  naught  and  his 
own  slender  fortunes  reminded  him  of  the  fact  that  the 
reasonable  and  the  obvious  are  not  always  easily  attain 
able.  This  was  the  last  of  his  large  plans  in  life  ;  he 
began  now  to  look  about  him  for  a  home  in  some  se 
cluded  country  retreat  where  he  might  spend  the  ap 
proaching  evening  of  life  in  undisturbed  repose, 
quietly  collecting  the  threads  of  his  eventful  history, 
which  he  designed  to  weave  into  a  solid  fabric  for  the 
benefit  of  future  students. 

He  turned  to  the  Gulf  coast  between  New  Orleans 
and  Mobile,  where  to-day  so  many  beautiful  suburban 
residences  adorn  the  gently  receding  shores.  A  place 
called  "Beauvoir,"  half-way  between  the  two  cities, 
was  chosen.  The  house  was  large  and  well  built,  and 
only  about  half  a  hundred  paces  from  the  water's  edge. 
There  was  no  railway  station  and  the  neighboring 
post-office  had  only  a  dozen  patrons.  To  the  rear  of 
the  mansion  lay  a  thousand  acres  of  pine  and  cypress 
forest,  and  in  front  the  gentle  Gulf  waves  broke  cease 
lessly  against  the  banks  of  shells  on  which  the  solid 
land  had  been  built  up.  No  more  ideal  asylum  for  the 
storm-tossed  Confederate  President  could  have  been 
found.  A  prominent  traveler  has  called  it  ( *  the  home 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  the  chapelle  expiatore  of  the  South 
ern  Bourbon  ;  the  modern  rock  of  Prometheus  to  the 
Northern  heart." 

"  Beauvoir  "  was  the  summer  home  of  Mrs.  Sarah  A. 
Dorsey,  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Davis  and  a  writer  of  some 
fame.  She  sold  the  place  to  Davis  to  be  paid  for  in 
easy  instalments  ;  but  she  died  a  year  or  two  later  and 


376  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

made  him  her  executor.  When  he  qualified,  he  found 
that  the  unpaid-for  property  had  beeu  bequeathed  to 
him,  and  in  case  of  his  refusal  of  the  legacy  to  his  little 
daughter  Winnie.  He  accepted  the  gift,  like  the  elder 
Pitt,  as  a  token  of  the  love  and  esteem  of  one  of  his 
devoted  admirers. 

Before  the  work  of  composing  his  account  of  the 
Confederacy  began,  he  was  called  upon  by  Mississippi 
to  represent  her  again  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
But  he  had  steadily  refused  to  ask  the  pardon  of  the 
Federal  government,  which  would  have  debarred  him 
from  a  seat  in  that  body.  Eealizing  only  too  well  what 
a  commotion  his  appearance  at  the  bar  of  the  Senate 
would  create,  he  declined  this  last  political  trust  of  his 
much  loved  state.  The  Northern  theory  of  reconstruc 
tion  was  that  all  prominent  Southerners  who  had  partic 
ipated  in  the  war  should  be  debarred  from  national 
citizenship,  and  therefore  from  holding  office,  except 
on  condition  of  formal  submission  to  and  pardon  by 
the  Federal  authority.  Davis  as  the  head  and  front 
of  secession,  was  not  unnaturally  excepted  from  these 
conditions  and  he  looked  upon  the  intended  stigma  as 
an  honor.  However  ably  he  might  have  served  in  the 
United  States  Senate  with  Lamar,  B.  H.  Hill,  and 
Wade  Hampton,  it  would  not  have  accorded  with  his 
sense  of  the  fitness  of  things  to  have  taken  his  place  in 
Washington  with  Stephens,  Vance,  and  Brown. 

From  1878  to  1881,  Davis  labored  on  his  great  apol 
ogy.  He  had  the  assistance  of  his  friend  Major 
W.  T.  Walthall  and  of  Judge  Tenney,  an  employee  of 
his  publishers.  Mrs.  Davis,  who  had  spent  the  year 
1877  in  England,  now  returned  and  took  up  the 
laborious  task  of  amanuensis.  The  greater  portion 


AFTEE  THE  WAK  377 

of  the  documents  necessary  for  the  work  were  in 
Washington,  where  they  had  been  taken  at  the  close 
of  the  war.  An  arrangement  was  made  by  which  Davis 
received  copies  of  the  most  important  of  these  papers 
in  return  for  copies  of  those  he  had  collected  from  his 
friends.  The  product  of  these  three  years  of  toil  was 
the  well-known  Else  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Govern 
ment — in  two  large  volumes.  As  a  justification  of 
secession  and  the  resulting  civil  war,  it  is  the  best  in 
existence ;  as  an  account  of  the  military  and  civil 
events  of  the  period,  it  is  partisan  and  in  some  respects 
unreliable.  Yet  it  is  a  monument  to  its  author,  con 
taining  many  valuable  documents,  and  in  no  way  de 
serving  the  severe  criticism  which  some  Southern 
students  have  been  wont  of  recent  years  to  bestow  upon 
it. 

Disappointment  and  sorrow  were  not  yet  done  with 
Jefferson  Davis.  In  the  summer  of  1878  yellow  fever 
broke  out  in  the  lower  Mississippi  states.  It  reached 
Memphis,  where  his  son-in-law  J.  A.  Hayes  was  en 
gaged  in  a  business  to  a  share  in  which  his  only  son, 
Jefferson,  now  twenty-one  years  old,  had  recently  been 
admitted.  The  young  man  was  stricken  in  October 
and  died  before  either  the  father  or  mother  could  reach 
him.  Without  a  son,  and  with  only  two  of  their  large 
family  of  children  remaining,  it  was  with  difficulty 
that  the  broken-hearted  man  controlled  the  will  that 
had  once  been  of  iron  j  but  he  kept  diligently  at  his 
task. 

The  home  at  "Beauvoir,"  notwithstanding  its  out- 
of-the-way  location,  soon  became  the  Mecca  of  "  good 
Confederates.'7  Generals  of  the  armies  of  the  Con 
federacy,  governors  of  the  Southern  states,  and  old 


378  JEFFEBSON  DAVIS 

friends  from  the  North,  like  George  W.  Jones  of  Iowa, 
visited  him  in  his  quiet  retreat  and  reviewed  the  stir 
ring  scenes  of  earlier  days.  From  all  parts  of  the 
country  came  letters,  bringing  good  wishes,  addressing 
inquiry,  or  asking  advice.  One  good  lady,  fallen  into 
sore  financial  straits,  wrings  his  heart  with  a  request 
to  cash  her  small  bundle  of  Confederate  notes.  A 
Massachusetts  Democrat  of  the  Caleb  Gushing  regime 
writes  to  tell  of  the  friendship  of  the  chosen  few  in 
that  Yankee  commonwealth.  Younger  soldiers  of  the 
Confederacy  want  a  line  and  an  autograph  from  their 
great  chieftain  ;  older  ones  desire  his  endorsement  for 
political  office,  while  ordinary  voters  ask  his  opinion 
on  the  merits  of  local  campaigns.  His  house  was  full 
of  guests  every  day  and  it  would  have  taken  all  his 
time  and  that  of  a  modern  stenographer  to  answer  his 
letters.  Like  Jefferson,  his  namesake  at  Monticello, 
he  was  about  to  be  smothered  by  the  kindness  of  his 
friends. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  men  who  had  been  his  ene 
mies  began  to  forget  their  wrath  ;  invitations  to  speak 
at  fairs  and  the  unveiling  of  monuments  began  to  come 
to  him.  Strangely  enough,  the  first  of  these  reached 
him  from  the  authorities  of  the  Winnebago  County  fair 
at  Eockford,  111.  He  unwillingly  accepted  the  invita 
tion,  longing  to  visit  again  the  places  where  he  had 
"  roughed  it77  in  his  young  soldier  days.  Soon  the 
news  spread  abroad  that  "Jeff"  Davis  would  speak 
in  Illinois,  the  state  of  Lincoln.  The  Chicago  Inter- 
Ocean  called  upon  the  old  soldiers  of  the  state  to  behold 
the  sacrilege.  Smaller  papers  took  up  the  chorus  and 
the  committee  which  had  invited  the  ex -Confederate 
President  was  forced  to  annul  its  act.  The  Chicago 


AFTEE  THE  WAR  379 

Tribune  warned  the  people  of  the  North  not  to  repeat 
the  blunder.  Yet  in  September  and  October  following, 
in  the  year  1875,  Davis  was  cordially  requested  to 
address  audiences  at  Jonesville,  Wis.,  Des  Moines,  la., 
Danville  and  Lancaster,  Pa.,  and  several  other  places  in 
the  North.  Having  been  humiliated  in  the  first  instance, 
he  declined  all  further  invitations  outside  the  bounds 
of  his  "own  country.'7  Thus  the  first  returning 
warmth  of  his  arduous  nature  for  his  fellow  citizens  of 
the  North  was  chilled. 

Another  invitation  brought  him  even  more  annoy 
ance.  The  people  of  Texas,  for  whom  he  always  felt 
a  peculiar  attachment,  were  engaged  in  a  hot  contest 
over  the  question  whether  the  liquor  traffic  should  be 
prohibited  by  constitutional  amendment.  Ex- Governor 
Lubbock  opposed  the  measure  and  wrote  to  ask  Davis 
for  his  opinion  which,  if  favorable  to  his  side  of  the 
dispute,  he  desired  to  publish.  Lubbock  had  been  a 
faithful  member  of  the  President's  staff  during  the 
war  and  a  close  friend  ever  since.  Davis  gave  his 
dictum,  as  was  to  have  been  expected,  in  favor  of  the 
liquor  traffic.  His  position  was  that  of  the  Individ- 
ualist  who  reprobates  state  interference  and  believes 
absolutely  in  the  doctrine  that  the  i  i  least  government 
possible  makes  the  best  government."  He  had  always 
been  temperate  in  his  habits  and  was  least  of  all  a 
friend  of  dram-drinking ;  yet  he  thought  the  state 
could  not  safely  enter  the  field  of  moral  and  personal 
reform.  The  prohibition  movement  was  to  him  an 
other  " higher  law"  campaign.  His  letter  was  made 
public  and  copies  of  it  were  circulated  by  the  thou 
sand.  A  storm  was  raised  about  the  head  of  the 
venerable  statesman ;  letters  of  protest  as  well  as  of 


380  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS 

approval  poured  in  upon  him.  He  soon  regretted 
that  he  had  given  his  opinion. 

On  the  10th  of  August,  1887,  Bishop  Galloway  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  assailed  the  posi 
tion  of  the  "ex-President"  and  lamented  that  "the 
last  words  of  a  soldier,  sage,  or  Christian,  should 
become  the  shibboleth  of  the  saloons."  This  able  but 
rather  caustic  address  stung  Davis  to  the  quick.  He 
made  reply  which  led  to  a  newspaper  discussion 
wherein  the  Bishop  got  the  better  of  the  argument. 
The  young  and  vigorous  dignitary  of  the  Church  was 
fighting  for  a  reform  which  was  steadily  proving  its 
reasonableness  and  value,  whereas  Davis  defended 
the  traditional  individualism  on  which  the  American 
system  had  been  built.  The  one  looked  to  the  future, 
the  other  to  the  past.1 

While  engaged  in  this  controversy,  he  was  tempted 
by  a  representative  of  the  Louisiana  Lottery  Company 
to  allow  his  name  to  be  attached  to  a  magazine  in 
tended  to  advertise  that  business.  He  was  offered  a 
salary  of  $10,000  a  year  to  do  for  the  new  pub 
lication  "what  Curtis  does  for  Harpers,  only  the  op 
posite  ;  namely,  press  the  charter  rights  of  the  states 
again  to  the  front."  2  The  way  was  made  very  smooth 
and  the  assurance  given  that  the  lottery  was  only  to 
have  the  right  to  advertise.  The  offer  was  rejected 
and  the  South  was  spared  the  necessity  of  apologizing 
for  its  Chief  Executive's  connection  with  what  was 
regarded  as  an  immoral  enterprise. 

1  The  discussion  has  been  reprinted  in  pamphlet  form  and  widely 
circulated  in  the  lower  Southern  states. 

2  Letter,   dated   December  19,    1887,   in  Confederate  Museum 
Papers. 


AFTEE  THE  WAE  381 

After  the  publication  of  the  Else  and  Fall  in  1881, 
Davis  continued  to  grow  in  favor.  The  people  of  the 
South,  realizing  the  benefits  of  the  Union  against 
which  they  had  warred  so  heroically,  were  beginning 
to  view  the  great  struggle  in  the  mellow  light  of  his 
tory  and  to  place  statues  of  its  leaders  in  their  public 
parks.  Lee  and  Jackson  were  gone  forever  ;  Joseph  E. 
Johnston  and  General  Beauregard  had  compromised 
their  popularity  by  connecting  themselves  with  the 
Louisiana  Lottery.  Davis,  the  chief  of  them  all, 
though  once  the  most  unpopular,  came  into  his  own. 

In  the  autumn  of  1886  he  visited  the  capitals  of 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  Georgia  and  spoke  to  the 
people.  He  was  received  everywhere  as  no  other 
American  had  been  up  to  that  date.  In  Atlanta  the 
beloved  Governor,  John  B.  Gordon,  presented  Miss 
Winnie  as  "the  daughter  of  the  Confederacy" — a 
name  which  she  bore  until  her  death  in  1898.  That 
the  South  was  true  to  her  past,  and  determined  to  say 
so,  was  evidenced  in  these  unprecedented  gatherings. 
Davis,  however,  avoided  all  references  that  might  give 
offense  to  other  parts  of  the  country  or  lead  his  hearers 
to  believe  that  secession  was  still  a  "  reserved  right." 
He  said  it  was  best  that  the  war  had  ended  as  it  did  ; 
but  that  nevertheless  he  should  act  the  same  way 
again  with  a  repetition  of  the  conditions  of  1861. 

His  years  were  drawing  to  a  close.  The  last  of  his 
great  speeches,  delivered  at  Macon,  at  the  end  of  his 
tour,  so  exhausted  him  that  his  physician  hastened 
him  home,  wirh  the  injunction  to  avoid  all  excitement 
in  the  future.  Visiting  his  "Brierfield"  estate  in 
November,  1889,  he  was  exposed  to  a  cold  rain  on  the 
10th,  and  on  the  llth  Mrs.  Davis  received  a  telegram 


382  JEFFEESON  DAVIS 

saying  that  lie  was  ill.  He  started  back  at  once  but 
was  too  much  indisposed  with  something  like  bron 
chitis  to  proceed  further  than  New  Orleans.  There  he 
was  taken  to  the  house  of  his  old  friend,  Mr.  J.  U. 
Payne,  and  every  assistance  given  him.  Mrs.  Davis 
had  joined  him  on  his  way  down  the  jtiver.  After  a 
lingering  illness,  he  died  on  December  6th,  and  all  the 
South  sent  representatives  to  participate  in  the  last 
rites  over  the  remains  of  their  historic  leader.  The 
people  of  New  Orleans  ceased  their  round  of  daily  toil 
to  attend  the  funeral  en  masse.  Members  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Eepublic  forgot  for  once  their  great 
enemy  and  added  their  tears  to  the  universal  lament. 
He  was  borne  to  his  temporary  tomb  in  Metairie  Ceme 
tery  by  the  governors  of  nine  states  and  during  the 
winter  following,  the  legislatures  of  the  South  held 
formal  memorial  sessions.  Never  was  more  universal 
homage  rendered  to  a  departed  chieftain.  The  North 
looked  on  in  mute  astonishment  at  the  loyalty  of  the 
defeated  South  ;  for  had  not  the  Southern  people 
blamed  Davis  for  their  ruin  !  In  summing  up  a  fa 
vorable  review  of  his  life,  the  New  York  World  said 
truly,  u  A  great  soul  has  passed  away." 

Four  years  later,  by  request  of  the  people  of  Eich- 
mond,  and  of  the  South  generally,  his  remains  were 
brought  to  Hollywood  Cemetery  and  given  their  final 
sepulture  on  the  banks  of  the  turbulent  James,  where 
the  conflict  of  his  life  had  waged  the  hottest ;  there 
the  visitor  to  the  capital  of  the  "lost  cause"  may 
now  stand  by  the  grave  of  its  most  perfect  representa 
tive.  The  body  passed  from  New  Orleans  through 
the  capitals  of  the  Southern  states,  lying  in  state  at 
each  stopping  place  long  enough  to  be  viewed  by  the 

v  y 


AFTER  THE  WAR  383 

tens  of  thousands  who  desired  to  pay  their  final  re 
spects  to  the  Confederate  President.  In  Richmond 
the  people  collected  from  all  parts  of  the  country  and 
listened  to  the  fond  eulogies  of  men  who  had  known 
him  best.  A  fitting  statue  was  erected  to  his  memory 
—representing  him  in  the  dress  of  a  cavalry  com 
mander  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  mature  manhood. 
The  South' s  monument,  however,  stands  at  the  west 
end  of  Monument  Avenue,  Richmond,  not  less  im 
posing  than  that  to  Lee  at  the  east  end.  The  work, 
a  memorial  both  to  him  and  the  cause  for  which 
he  fought,  was  unveiled  in  June,  1907,  when  the  last 
great  assembly  in  honor  of  Jefferson  Davis,  the 
South' s  "only  President,"  attested  in  unqualified 
terms  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  this  people  to  the 
name  of  the  man  whom  their  fathers  chose  to  lead  them 
in  their  heroic  struggle  for  independence. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Below  will  be  found  a  list  of  the  principal  sources  of  information, 
both  printed  and  in  manuscript  form  used  in  the  preparation  of  the 
Life  of  Davis.  This  is  not,  however,  intended  as  an  exhaustive 
bibliography  or  even  a  full  list  of  all  the  sources  consulted  in  the 
preparation  of  the  preceding  study. 

ARCHIVES  of  the  State  Department,  Washington.  Letters  to  Davis 
from  various  friends  and  supporters  during  the  period  of 
1852-1861.  These  papers  have  recently  been  transferred  to 
the  Bureau  of  Manuscripts  of  the  Library  of  Congress. 

BIOGRAPHICAL.  Adams,  C.  F.,  Life  of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  in 
American  Statesmen  Series.  Alfriend,  Life  of  Jefferson 
Davis.  Du  Bose,  J.  W.,  Life  of  William  L.  Yancey.  Hen 
derson,  G.  F.  R.,  Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson.  Johnston  and 
Browne,  Life  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens.  McLaughlin,  A.  C., 
Life  of  Lewis  Cass,  in  American  Statesmen  Series.  Nicolay 
and  Hay,  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Pollard,  E.  A.,  Life  of 
Jefferson  Davis,  1869.  National  Publishing  Company.  Cur 
tis,  Geo.  T.,  Life  of  James  Buchanan. 

DAVIS,  GEORGE.  Letters,  private  correspondence  between  Jeffer 
son  Davis  and  George  Davis  of  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  Attor 
ney-General  of  the  Confederacy. 

DAVIS,  JEFFERSON.  Papers,  letters,  telegrams,  newspaper  clip 
pings,  etc.,  bearing  mainly  on  the  post  bellum  period — in 
the  Confederate  Museum,  Richmond,  Va.  These  papers  are 
referred  to  in  the  footnotes  as  The  Confederate  Museum 
Papers. 

DOCUMENTARY.  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate 
Armies,  Series  I,  Vols.  II,  XIX,  XLVI,  and  others  not  di 
rectly  quoted.  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol.  V, 
compiled  by  J.  B.  Richardson.  Messages  and  Papers  of  the 
Confederacy,  Vol.  I,  compiled  by  J.  B.  Richardson.  Reports 
of  Secretary  of  War,  Jefferson  Davis,  to  the  33d  Congress, 
1855-1856.  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association, 
1899,  Vol.  II — the  Calhoun  correspondence,  by  J.  F.  Jameson. 
Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Second 
Series,  Vol.  XIX.  Congressional  Globe,  1845-1861.  Rebel 
War  Clerk's  Diary,  kept  by  J.  B.  Jones,  a  clerk  in  the  Con- 


BIBLIOGEAPHY  385 

federate  War  Department,  1861-1865.  Trinity  College 
(N.  C. )  Historical  Papers,  1899  ;  Southern  Historical  Society 
Publications,  XXI  ;  South  Atlantic  Quarterly,  Vol.  II. 

GENERAL  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  PERIOD.  Adams,  C.  F.,  Constitu 
tional  Ethics  of  Secession.  Collins,  W.  H.,  The  Domestic 
Slave  Trade,  1904.  Broadway  Publishing  Company.  Davis, 
Jefferson,  JKise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  States,  1881.  Ap- 
pleton.  Garrison,  George  P.,  Texas  in  American  Common 
wealth  Series.  Khodes,  J.  F.,  History  of  the  United  States, 
1850-1877.  The  Macmillan  Co.  Schouler,  James.  History 
of  the  United  States,  Vol.  V.  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.  Wood  and 
Edmonds,  Civil  War  in  the  United  States,  1905.  Putnam. 
Callahan,  J.  T.,  Diplomatic  History  of  the  Southern  Con- 
'  federacy.  Hopkins  Press. 

MEMOIRS.  Alexander,  E.  P.,  Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate, 
1907.  Scribner.  Claiborne,  J.  H.  C.,  Reminiscences  of 
Mississippi,  Vol.  I.  Davis,  Mrs.  Jefferson,  Memoir  of  Jef 
ferson  Davis,  1890.  Appleton.  Davis,  Reuben,  Recollec 
tions  of  a  Mississippian.  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.  Jones, 
J.  W.,  Memorial  Volume  on  Jefferson  Davis,  1893.  Lee,  Cap 
tain  Robert  E.,  Recollections  and  Letters  of  General  Robert  E. 
Lee,  1904.  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.  Longstreet,  General 
J.  B.,  From  Manassas  to  Appamattox.  Johnson,  Bradley  T., 
Life  and  Reminiscences  of  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and  Jefferson 
Davis;  General  J.  B.  Gordon,  Reminiscences.  Scribner. 

NEWSPAPERS.  Washington  Union,  National  Intelligencer ;  Rich 
mond  Enquirer,  Examiner,  Dispatch;  Raleigh  (N.  C.) 
Standard,  Progress;  Charleston  Mercury,  Courier ;  Columbus 
(Ga.)  1  imes ;  Augusta  (Ga.)  Chronicle  and  Sentinel;  Mont 
gomery  (Ala.)  Advertiser;  Jackson  (Miss.)  Mississippian, 
the  Mississippi  Weekly  Independent,  Vicksburg  Sentinel; 
New  York  Herald. 

PERIODICALS.  American  Historical  Review,  Vol.  X.  McClure'a 
Magazine,  December,  1900.  Century  Magazine,  Sept.,  1899. 


INDEX 


ADAMS,  JAMES  H.,  202. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  50. 

Allen,  Senator,  from  Ohio,  45, 
46,  70. 

Ampudia,  General,  82. 

Army,  Confederate,  discipline 
in,  293 ;  scarcity  of  food  in, 
323-325  ;  deserters  from,  S54. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  29,  31. 

Atchison,  David,  22. 

BACHE,  ALEXANDER  D.,  102. 

Bagby,  Senator,  of  Alabama, 
112. 

Baltimore,  Democratic  Conven 
tion  of  1844,  135. 

Bancroft,  George,  63. 

Barn  well,  Kobert  W.,  202. 

Beauregard.  General  P.  G.  T., 
in  command  at  Fort  Surnter, 
233  ;  attacks  Fort  Sumter, 
234,  239  ;  at  Manassas,  246, 
252-253 ;  defends  Petersburg, 
326 ;  counsels  submission, 
358. 

Bell,  John,  Senator  from  Ten 
nessee,  97,  99;  nominated  for 
the  presidency,  186. 

Belmont,  August,  192. 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  142,  159; 
proposes  emancipation,  343 ; 
hopeful  of  Southern  success, 
354. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  45,  47,  98, 
101,  116. 

Berrien,  Senator,  of  Georgia, 
97,  99. 

Biddle,  Nicholas,  58. 

Bigler,  Senator,  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  192. 


Black  Hawk,  Indian  chief,  35, 
36,  37. 

Black  Warrior,  American  trader, 
138-139. 

Blair,  F.  P.,  mission  of,  to 
Richmond,  348. 

Blair,  Montgomery,  intimate 
friend  of  Davis,  171. 

Botts,  John  Minor,  imprisoned, 
269. 

Bragg,  General  Braxton,  super 
sedes  Beauregard,  277 ;  at 
Murfreesboro,  298-299,  312; 
at  Chickamauga,  313-314 ; 
defeated  at  Chattanooga,  316  ; 
removed,  316. 

Breckinridge,  John  C.,  nomi 
nated  for  the  presidency,  186, 
192. 

Brown,  A.  G.,  66;  Governor  of 
Mississippi,  93,  152,  194. 

Brown,  Joseph  E.,  opposes  con 
script  law,  283,  300. 

Buchanan,  James,  130 ;  minis 
ter  to  England,  137,  138; 
President  of  United  States, 
156  ;  message  to  Cougress, 
157 ;  special  message,  158, 
159;  yields  to  Southern  ad 
visers,  162-163,  165  ;  friendly 
to  Davis,  170,  180;  supports 
Southern  program,  182,  191  ; 
takes  issue  with  Davis,  192 ; 
crisis  in  cabinet  of,  199,  201. 

Buena  Vista,  battle  of,  87,  90. 

Burnside,  General,  in  battle  of 
Fredericksburg,  286-287 ;  re 
tires,  303. 

Butler,  General  B.  F.,  85,  116, 
173,  186  ;  threatens  Rich- 


INDEX 


387 


mond,     326-327  ;      "  bottled 
up,"  330. 

CALHOUN,  A.  P.,  176. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  46,  47,  51, 
55 ;  aiid  Texas,  61-62,  63,  64, 
65 ;  tour  of  the  South,  68-69  ; 
prophet  of  the  South,  72,  75, 
77;  opposes  President,  77, 
78 ;  on  Mexico,  94 ;  and 
Rhett,  95,  96,  97,  98  ;  opposes 
annexation  of  Mexico,  99, 
101 ;  on  slavery  in  Oregon, 
105-106,  111,  113,  114,  116  ; 
proposes  Compromise  of  1850, 
119,  120,  122;  Southern  ad 
dress,  123  ;  death  of,  122, 
143;  Memphis  speech  of,  144, 
155,  167. 

California,  state  of,  109 ;  asks 
admission  to  Union,  114-115, 
141-142  ;  railways  in,  144. 

Cameron,  Simon,  63. 

Campbell,  James,  132. 

Cass,  Lewis,  95-96,  98 ;  defends 
President  Polk,  99,  102,  104, 
110,  112,  130,  147,  148. 

Central  America,  protectorate 
in,  141,  142,  143,  163. 

Chancellorsville,  battle  of,  306- 
307. 

Charleston,  National  Demo 
cratic  Convention  of,  182, 
183;  breaks  up,  184-185, 
191,  196,  199. 

Chattanooga,  battle  of,  316-317. 

Chickamauga,  battle  of,  313. 

Cincinnati,  convention  of,  165. 

Civil  War,  crisis  of,  passed, 
313 

Clay,  'Henry,  22,  26,  49 ;  his 
"Raleigh  "  letter,  100;  in 
United  States  Senate,  115, 
118,  120  ;  wins  in  Senate  con 
flict,  121,  125,  127,  130,  146. 

Clayton,  John  M.,  of  Delaware, 
109. 

Cobb,  Howell,  97,  125,  158. 


Collamer,  Senator,  of  Vermont, 
194,  196. 

Compromise,  Clay,  119,  120, 
123,  125,  128. 

Compromise  of  1820,  105,  149. 

Compromise  of  1850,  20,  32, 
38,  137,  138,  147,  152,  178. 

Compromise,  Missouri,  94,  147, 
148,  155,  169,  175. 

Confederacy,  Southern,  talk  of, 
113,  161,  169,  181;  plan  to 
organize,  193-194 ;  formation 
of,  215 ;  and  Virginia,  226  ; 
commissioners  of,  in  Wash 
ington,  232 ;  commissioners 
of,  deceived,  233,  236;  rail 
roads  of,  259-260;  finances 
of,  320-321 ;  failing  fortunes 
of,  321-322 ;  Congress  of,  au 
thorizes  enlistment  of  negro 
troops,  344. 

Congress,  discusses  secession, 
193-194 ;  committee  of  com 
promise  of,  194,  196,  198. 

Cor  win,  Thomas,  116,  198. 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  of  Ken 
tucky,  45,  46,  47,  99,  195; 
proposes  compromise,  196, 
197. 

Cuba,  fear  of  annexation,  156 ; 
plans  for  purchase  of,  162, 
170,  197. 

Cushing,  Caleb,  130,  132;  in 
troduces  Davis  at  Faneuil 
Hall,  172,  173,  180,  192. 

DAVIS,  JEFFEKSON,  grandfather 
>  of,  15  ;  birth  of,  17 ;  boyhood 
of,  in  Mississippi,  17;  at 
school  in  "  log  schoolhouse," 
18  ;  sent  to  a  Catholic  Acad 
emy  in  Kentucky,  18 ;  visits 
''Hermitage,"  19;  sent  to 
Jefferson  College,  20  ;  attends 
academy  at  Woodville,  Mis 
sissippi,  20  ;  enters  Transyl 
vania  University,  20  ;  class 
standing,  21 ;  death  of  father, 


INDEX 


22 ;  letter  to  sister-in-law,  23 ; 
enters  National  Military 
Academy,  24  ;  cadet  life,  25- 
26  ;  accepts  commission,  27  ; 
at  Fort  Crawford,  28,  29 ;  on 
Red  Cedar  River,  30 ;  on  Yel 
low  River,  30,  33;  at  Fort 
Winnebago,  31;  ill,  33;  at 
Galena,  Illinois,  34  ;  and 
nullification,  38 ;  recruiting 
in  Kentucky,  39  ;  at  Fort 
Gibson,  41;  marries  Miss 
Taylor,  42-43  ;  settles  in 
Warren  County,  Mississippi, 
43  ;  death  of  wife,  44  ;  visits 
New  Orleans,  44 ;  in  Wash 
ington,  45  ;  returns  to  Mis 
sissippi,  47 ;  on  Mississippi 
plantation,  49  ;  close  student, 
50-51 ;  opposes  repudiation, 
60-61;  enters  politics,  64; 
debate  with  S.  S.  Preutiss, 
65;  and  Robert  J.  Walker, 
66 ;  marries  Miss  Varina 
Howell,  67  ;  member  of 
House  of  Representatives,  68; 
on  Democratic  policy,  74-75 ; 
and  Western  friends,  75  ;  op 
poses  internal  improvements 
and  protective  tariff,  76-77; 
breaks  with  Calhoun,  77-78; 
colonel  of  Mississippi  Rifles, 
78;  embarks  for  Texas,  79; 
at  Monterey,  81-84;  United 
States  Commissioner,  82; 
popular  with  his  troops,  83  ; 
at  Vera  Cruz,  87-89;  dis 
bands  regiment,  91  ;  returns ^ 
to  "  Brierfield,"  91 ;  declines 
general's  commission,  91-92  ; 
United  States  Senator,  93  ; 
supports  Cass  for  presidency, 
95;  member  of  Senate  Com 
mittee  on  Military  Affairs, 
97  ;  favors  annexation  of 
Mexico,  98  ;  character  of,  98- 
99  ;  defends  President  Polk, 
99-100 ;  imperialist,  100- 


101 ;  proposes  Panama  rail 
way,  101 ;  and  Douglas,  102  ; 
and  slavery,  102  ;  on  slavery 
in  Oregon,  105  ;  and  consti 
tutional  rights  of  slavery, 
106-107;  supports  Cass  for 
the  presidency/  110;  chair 
man  of  the  Senate  inaugural 
committee,  113 ;  agitator,  114; 
intimate  with  President  Tay 
lor,  118;  upbraids  Henry 
Clay,  120  ;  proposes  line  of 
36°  30'  to  Pacific,  120  ;  in 
accord  with  Calhoun,  120 ;  on 
California,  120  ;  speech  of,  on 
Southern  Convention,  123 ; 
esteemed  by  all  parties,  124  ; 
personal  encounter  with  H.  S. 
Foote,  125;  supersedes  J.  A. 
Quitman,  128 ;  canvasses 
Mississippi,  128  ;  defeated, 
128-129 ;  in  Pierce  campaign, 
131 ;  becomes  member  of  the 
cabinet,  131  ;  introduces  im 
provements  in  the  army,  133 ; 
enlarges  the  army,  134  ;  pub 
lic  improvements  in  District  of 
Columbia,  134;  close  adviser 
of  the  President,  135  ;  im 
perialist,  136 ;  dominates 
Pierce's  administration,  137 ; 
friendly  to  William  Walker, 
142;  favors  Pacific  Railway, 
143  ;  Pacific  Railway  report, 
151 ;  elected  to  Senate,  153  ; 
defends  Pierce  administra 
tion,  154 ;  leader  of  the  Sen 
ate,  156 ;  attacks  Republican 
party,  158-159  ;  on  Pacific 
Railway,  159,  161  ;  favors 
purchase  of  Cuba,  162  ;  de 
clares  slavery  "Divine  insti 
tution,"  168-169;  illness  of, 
170 ;  takes  a  vacation,  171 ; 
popular  in  New  England, 
171 ;  address  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
172-173  ;  criticised  in  Missis 
sippi,  173;  replies  to  critics, 


INDEX 


173  ;  favors  re-opening  slave 
trade,  178  ;  urges  manufac 
tures  in  the  South,  178 ;  reso 
lutions  of  1860,  183  ;  and 
Charleston  Convention,  184; 
debate  with  Douglas,  187- 
188  ;  seeks  to  unite  Democ 
racy,  190  ;  in  Washington, 
190  ;  letter  of,  190  ;  tends  to 
conservatism,  191  ;  and  Pres 
ident  Buchanan,  191-192  ;  on 
Committee  of  Thirteen,  194; 
makes  last  appeal,  200 ;  apolo 
gia  of,  203  ;  disciple  of  Cal- 
houii,  204;  in  caucus  of 
Southern  senators,  205  ;  let 
ter  to  President  Pierce,  206 ; 
adieu  to  Senate,  206  ;  a  con 
servative,  207-208  ;  elected 
Confederate  President,  220- 
J22ir  inaugural  address.  222- 
224  ;  cabinet  policy  of,  227 ; 
formation  of  Confederate  cab 
inet,  227 ;  calls  cabinet  meet 
ing  on  Fort  Sumter  crisis, 
234  ;  enters  Richmond,  241  ; 
and  RobertE.  Lee,  242;  super 
vises  War  Department,  247; 
at  Manassas,  247-248  ;  speech 
on  Manassas,  248 ;  increases 
Confederate  armies,  249 ; 
elected  President  of  Confeder 
acy,  256  ;  message  of  Novem 
ber  18,  1861,  257-259  ;  vetoes- 
acts  of  Congress,  261 ;  second 
inauguration,  263-265 ;  and 
conscript  law,  268  ;  dictatorial— 
methods  of,  284 ;  encourages 
Lee,  284 ;  opposition  to,  291  r~ 
and  writ  of  habeas  corpus, 
291 ;  and  military  appoint 
ments,  292  ;  criticised,  294  j- 
tour  in  Southwest,  294-298; 
returns  to  Richmond,  299 ; 
watches  Gettysburg  cam 
paign,  309;  declines  Lee's 
resignation,  311-312 ;  turns 
hopes  to  Bragg,  312;  visits 


Bragg,  315;  addresses  people 
in  Selma,  Alabama,  in  Mo 
bile,  in  Charleston,  315-316 ; 
removes  Bragg,  316;  ad 
dresses  Congress,  319-321; 
suggests  remedies  for  the  fail 
ing  Confederacy,  323-324; 
holds  conference  at  Augusta, 
334 ;  &ies  to  rally  the  Geor 
gians,  334-335 ;  rebukes  Alex-— 
auder  H.  Stephens,  340 ;  re 
fuses  to  admit  failure,  340- 
341 ;  yields  to  Benjamin, 
344;  demands  independence 
of  Confederacy,  348-349  ; 
victory  of,  over  Confederate  — 
Congress,  351-352  ;  oration  in 
African  church,  352-353;  in 
Danville,  Va.,  356;  procla 
mation  of,  356j_in_Charloitfi^__. 
N.  C..  359/"receives  news  of 

^•"Cmcoln's  death,  359;  flight 
of,  through  South  Carolina, 
359 ;  in  Georgia,  362 ;  cap 
tured,  362;  a  prisoner,  363; 
at  Fortress  Monroe,  366 ;  de 
clines  to  recant,  369  ;  on  trial 
in  Richmond,  368-370;  in 
Canada,  370  ;  in  New  Orleans, 
371  ;  kindly  treated  in  Eng 
land,  372  ;  president  of  insur 
ance  company,  373 ;  domestic 
trials,  373 ;  interested  in 
South  American  trade,  374 ; 
plans  fail,  375;  at  "  Beau- 
voir,"  375-376;  his  Rise  and 
Fall,  377 ;  death  of  only  son, 
377  ;  has  many  friends,  378  ; 
and  temperance  cause,  379 ; 
declines  offer  from  Louisiana 
Lottery,  380;  popularity  of, 
381;  last  visit  to  "Brier- 
field,"  382;  death  in  New 
Orleans,  382 ;  burial  in  Rich 
mond,  382-383 ;  monument 
to,  383. 

Davis,  Mrs.  Jefferson,  first  wife, 
19,  38,  42,  43,  47. 


390 


INDEX 


Davis,  Mrs.  Jefferson,  second 
wife,  67 ;  her  marriage  to 
Jefferson  Davis,  67,  68,  69, 
91 ;  flight  of,  271 ;  at  Wash 
ington,  Ga.,  361 ;  pleads  for 
her  husband,  368. 

Davis,  Evan,  marries  Miss 
Emory,  16 ;  founds  a  home 
in  Georgia,  16. 

Davis,  Joseph  Emory,  brother 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  18;  be 
comes  head  of  family,  18 ; 
takes  charge  of  Jefferson 
Davis's  education,  24,  28,  42, 
43,  49,  52,  60. 

Davis,  Reuben,  of  Mississippi, 
193. 

Davis,  Samuel,  16;  in  Revolu 
tionary  War,  16;  marries 
Miss  Cook,  17;  settles  in 
Mississippi,  17,  18,  49. 

Democratic  party,  60 ;  and 
Texas,  70;  and  Oregon,  71, 
93,  95,  98,  99,  110,  113,  122, 
123,  128 ;  national  conven 
tion,  130,  135,  146,  148,  152- 
153,  155,  162,  164,  165,  169 ; 
organization  of,  against  Doug 
las,  170,  172,  173,  175,  176, 
180,  181;  convention  at 
Charleston,  182-183. 

Dew,  Professor  Thomas  R.,  167. 

Dickinson,  John  S.,  112. 

Dixon,  Senator,  of  Kentucky, 
successor  to  H.  Clay,  148. 

Dobbin,  James  C.,  of  North 
Carolina,  132. 

Dodge,  Governor,  of  Wiscon 
sin,  22. 

Dodge,  Henry,  Governor  of 
Iowa,  39,  40,  75. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  102,  104, 
112,  116,130;  and  repeal  of 
Missouri  Compromise,  146- 
InO;  burned  in  effigy,  155, 
156;  leader  of  Senate,  157; 
breaks  with  the  South,  157; 
opposes  administration,  158, 


159,  162,  163 ;  in  favor  with 
Northern  Democracy,  164, 
165,  170,  172,  173;  unpopu 
lar  in  the  South,  180  ;  debate 
with  Davis,  187-188. 

Downs,  S.  W.,  22. 

Dray  ton,  Thomas  F.,  of  South 
Carolina,  29,  38. 

EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMA 
TION,  303. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  32. 

England,  and  Mosquito  Coast, 
142. 

Everett,  Edward,  96,  172. 
**-~Examiner,    Richmond,    opposes 
Davis,  283. 

FICKLIN,  MRS.,  with  whom 
Jefferson  Davis  boarded,  21. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  becomes  Pres 
ident,  183. 

Floyd,  John  B.,  293. 

Foote,  Henry  S.,  66;  and 
Davis,  122,  124-125 ;  becomes 
Unionist,  125-126;  candidate 
for  governor,  127 ;  member 
of  Confederate  Congress  from 
Tennessee,  283. 

Fort  Crawford,  28,  29,  33,  34, 
40. 

Fort  Gibson,  40. 

Fort  Sumter,  negotiation  for, 
199;  relief  expedition  to, 
201 ;  falls,  234. 

Fort  Winnebago,  31,  32,  33. 

Fredericksburg,  battle  of,  286- 
287. 

Fremont,  Senator,  of  California, 
118. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law,  183. 

GADSDEN,  JAMES  S.,  of  South 
Carolina,  treaty  of,  141. 

Gaines,  General,  35. 

Galloway,  C.  B.,  in  controversy 
with  Davis,  380. 

Gettysburg,  battle  of,  307-310. 


INDEX 


391 


Gladstone,  William  E.,  friendly 
to  the  South,  231 ;  address  at 
New  Castle,  288. 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  made  Com 
mander-in-chief,  318 ;  and  the 
Wilderness  campaign,  326 ; 
attacks  Lee,  328-329  ;  blun 
ders  of,  at  Cold  Harbor,  329 ; 
before  Petersburg,  341; 
friendly  to  Davis,  369. 

Greeley,  Horace,  friend  of  Davis, 
364-365. 

Green,  Charles  B.,  20;  plan  of, 
for  Pacific  Railway,  160. 

Greensboro,  N.  C.,  357;  cabinet 
meeting  in,  358. 

Grimes,  Senator,  of  Minnesota, 
194,  196. 

Guthrie,  James,  of  Kentucky, 
132. 

Gwin,  Senator,  118,  159. 

HALE,  SENATOR  JOHN  P.,  of 
New  Hampshire,  111-112. 

Hamlin,  Vice-President,  195. 

Hampton  Roads,  conference  of, 
349-351. 

Hampton,  Wade,  360. 

Hanuegan,  E.  A.,  22,  104. 

Harmansou,  John  NM  room 
mate  of  Davis  at  college,  20. 

Harney,  W.  S.,  31,  32. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  61. 

Heiss,  of  New  Orleans,  183. 

Henderson,  ex-Governor,  of 
Texas,  82. 

Hinds,  Major,  of  Mississippi,  19. 

Hood,  John  B.,  supersedes 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  332  ;  dis 
appoints  Davis,  333 ;  defeated 
in  Tennessee,  335-336. 

Hooker,  General  Joseph,  super 
sedes  Burnside,  304. 

Houston,  Sam,  62. 

Howell,  Governor  of  New  Jer 
sey,  67. 

Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  96,  116,131, 
159;  on  committee  of  com 


promise,  194,  195,  256;  op 
poses  Southern  emancipation, 
345. 

JACKSON,  PEESIDENT  AN- 
DKEW,  19,  k6,  39,  51,  61,  62. 

Jackson,  "Stonewall,"  success 
of,  in  the  Valley,  271 ;  flank 
movement  of,  at  Chancellors- 
ville,  305 ;  death  of,  305. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  54,  55,  94, 
105. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  offers  reward 
for  capture  of  Davis,  362. 

Johnson,  Herschel  V.,  elected 
to  Confederate  Senate,  criti 
cises  Davis,  300. 

Johnston,  Albert  Sidney,  at 
West  Point,  24,  29,  239,  250- 
251. 

Johnston,  Joseph  E.,  at  West 
Point,  24,  239,  246,  251-252 ; 
dissatisfied,  254 ;  wounded, 
272 ;  in  Southwest,  294-298  ; 

— suspicious  of  Davis,  298 ;  at 
Chattanooga,  312 ;  in  com 
mand  of  Army  of  Tennessee, 
316 ;  confronts  Sherman,  31 9  ; 
Fabian  policy  of,  330-331  ; 
removed  from  command, 
332 ;  criticizes  Lee,  333  ;  and 
the  Confederate  Congress, 
340-341 ;  restored  to  com 
mand,  350 ;  counsels  submis 
sion,  358. 

Jones,  George  W.,  22,  29,  32, 
35,  40,  45,  46. 

KANSAS,  question  of,  157-159, 
160,  162,  163,  165,  170. 

Kentucky,  birthplace  of  Davis, 
17,  18. 

King,  William  R.,  of  Alabama, 
130. 

LINCOLN,  ABRAHAM,  17,  18, 
58,  157,  164,  195;  opposes 
compromise,  196-197 ;  and 


392 


INDEX 


the  Border  States,  228 ;  anx 
ious  about  the  country,  232  ; 
first  call  for  troops,  236;  or 
ders  blockade  of  the  South, 
244 ;  releases  Confederate 
commissioners,  263 ;  anxious 
about  Sherman,  342 ;  assassin 
ated,  359. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  at  West  Point, 
24  ;  superintendent  of  United 
States  Military  Academy,  133, 
134;  commander  of  Virginia 
troops,  238,  239,  242-243, 
251;  and  Joseph  E.  Johns 
ton,  rivals,  252;  invades 
Maryland,  278 ;  on  conscrip 
tion,  282-283;  plans  to  defeat 
Burnside,  285 ;  plans  second 
invasion  of  the  North,  305- 
306;  limitations  of,  309;  of 
fers  resignation,  311 ;  gener 
alship  of,  329;  declines  dic- 
— -tatorship,  346-347 ;  loses 
hold  on  Petersburg,  353  ;  sur 
renders  Petersburg,  355 ;  sur 
render  of,  at  Appomattox,  357. 

Longstreet,  General  James  B., 
detached  from  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  304  ;  disa 
grees  with  Lee,  306  ;  at  Chat 
tanooga,  312,  314;  plans  of, 
327. 

Louisiana  Lottery,  and  Davis, 
380. 

MADISON,  JAMES,  54,  55. 
Manassas,    first  battle  of,  246- 

247;  second  battle  of,  276-277. 
Man  gum,    Willie    P.,    Senator 

from  North  Carolina,  117. 
Mann,  A.  Dudley,  228. 
Marcy,  William   L.,  130,  132; 

Secretary  of  State,  137,  139, 

148. 

Marshall,  Chief- Justice,  55, 155. 
Mason,  James  M.,  of  Virginia, 

116,    131,    159;     seized    on 

board  the  Trent,  263. 


Mason,   John  Y.,  of  Virginia, 

Minister  to  France,  137, 138, 

139. 

Maury,  Matthew  F.,  103. 
McClellan,  General  George  B., 

organizes  Army  of  Potomac, 

261 ;  seizes  Yorktown,    270  ; 

failure  of,  274  ;  retired,  275 ; 

restored  to    command,   277; 

at  battle  of  Sharpsburg,  280 ; 

dismissed,  285. 
McClellan,  Robert,  of  Michigan, 

132. 
McDowell,  General,  moves  on 

Richmond,  246. 

McNutt,  Governor,   of   Missis 
sippi,  59. 
Mercury,  Charleston,  and  Texas, 

73;  leading  paper  of  South, 

181-182. 
Merrimac,    171;     attacked    by 

Monitor,  271. 
Mesilla  Valley,  purchased,  140- 

141. 
Mexico,  war  declared  against, 

17;  annexation  of,  93,  97-98, 

99,  141,  162,  197. 
Miles,  Nelson  A.,  custodian  of 

Davis,  366-367. 
Mississippi.  Territory  of,  17, 18, 

19,  24,  28;  growth  of,  53,  54; 

population  in   1840,   54,  56; 

Planters'    Bank    established, 

57 ;  Union  Bank  established, 

58 ;    financial    condition    of, 

58-59;      reaction     in,     126, 

191. 
Mississippi  Rifles,  regiment  of, 

79;    in    battle  of  Monterey, 

80-82;    in    battle    of    Vera 

Cruz,  87-89;  disbanded,  91. 
Missouri,    state  of,    22 ;    Davis 

in,  28 ;  contest  of  1820,  53. 
Monterey,  battle  of,  80. 
Montgomery,     convention     at, 

176;   Congress  at,  215,  217; 

disappointment  in,  218. 
Mosquito  Coast,  142. 


INDEX 


393 


NAPOLEON  III,  friendly  to  the 
South,  288-289. 

Nashville,  commercial  conven 
tion,  113,  114,  126;  conven 
tion  of  1850,  123. 

New  Mexico,  109,  141,  156. 

New  Orleans,  19,  26,  191. 

New  York,  newspapers  of,  on 
secession,  195. 

Nicaragua,  14,  142,  154,  156. 

North,  the,  192,  198;  and  the 
war,  213-214 ;  disappoint 
ment  of,  314-315. 

North  Carolina,  55;  on  seces 
sion,  instructions  of,  for  sen 
ators,  117,  195;  discontent, 
301 ;  and  the  Confederate  ad 
ministration,  322. 

Northwest  Ordinance,  169. 

O'CONNOR,   CHAELES,   counsel 

for  Davis,  367. 
Oregon,  question  of  annexation, 

70,  71,  72,  73,  104,  109-110, 

169. 

Orr,  James  L.,  202. 
Ostend,  manifesto  of,  139. 

PALMER,  DR.  B.  M.,  Presby 
terian  divine,  champions 
cause  of  slavery,  167. 

Panic,  financial,  155-156. 

Patterson,  General,  84,  85. 

Pearson,  Chief-Justice  of  North 
Carolina,  opposes  Confederate 
government,  339. 

Pemberton,  General,  at  Vicks- 
burg,  299. 

Pemberton,  James,  personal 
slave  of  Davis,  28,  33,  43,  44. 

Petersburg,  fall  of,  355. 

Phillips,  Ulrich  B.,  208. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  45;  nominated 
for  the  presidency,  130,  131, 
132;  imperialist,  135,  137, 
143;  message  of  1853,  145; 
approves  Douglas's  plan;  149; 


violates  promise  of  inaugural 
address,  150,  154. 

Poinsett,  Joel  R.,  Secretary  of 
War,  46,  47. 

Polk,  James  K.,  63,  64,  68;  po 
sition  on  Texas-Oregon  ques 
tion,  70 ;  inaugural  of,  71 ; 
declares  war  with  Mexico, 
77,  78,  79;  displeased  with 
Taylor,  84-85,  91,  93,  94,  95, 
96,  97,  99,  104,  110,  111,  112, 
135,  137,  164. 

Pope,  General,  supersedes  Mc 
Dowell,  274. 

Prentiss,  Sargent  S.,  64,  65,  93. 

Pryor,  Roger  A.,  replies  to 
Yancey,  177,  183 ;  in  Charles 
ton,  235. 

Pryor,  Mrs.  Roger  A.,  217. 

QUITMAN,  JOHN  A.,  militant 
slavery  protagonist  of  1840- 
1858,  56,  62,  66,  81,  82,  122; 
nominated  for  Governor  of 
Mississippi,  127, 128,  136 ;  ex 
pedition  of,  to  Cuba,  139-140, 
142,  156. 

RAILROAD  BILL,  discussed  by 
Davis,  159;  passes,  160; 
Southern  Pacific,  162. 

Raleigh,  N.  C.,  public  senti 
ment  of,  337. 

Randolph-Macon  College,  pres 
ident  of,  champions  slavery, 
164. 

Republican  party,  155,  159, 
164,  165,  172 ;  birth  of,  175 ; 
attacks  Supreme  Court,  176, 
180,  193-194,  195,  197. 

Reynolds,  Governor  of  Wiscon 
sin,  36. 

Rhett,  Robert  Barnwell,  46 ;  in 
Congress,  72 ;  on  Texas  ques 
tion,  73,  75 ;  opponent  of  Cal- 
houn,  77,  78,  94-95,  99,  110 ; 
suggested  for  the  Confederate 
Presidency,  114,  122,  126, 


394 


INDEX 


142,  165,  176 ;  owner  of  Mer 
cury,  181-182,  215;  opposes 
Davis,  220,  221-222 ;  and  free 
trade,  230;  plans  counter 
revolution,  300. 

Richmond,  31 ;  capital  of  the 
Confederacy,  237;  a  drill 
camp,  245;  high  prices  in, 
262,  317 ;  Seven  Days'  Battles 
around,  272 ;  siege  of,  raised, 
272-273;  anarchy  in,  323; 
evacuated,  355. 

Ritchie,  Thomas,  61-63,  66,  95. 

Roane,  Judge  Spencer,  192. 

SANTA  ANNA,  81,  83 ;  at  battle 
of  Vera  Cruz,  86-89. 

Schurz,  Carl,  letter  of,  132. 

Scott,  Dred,  case  of,  154-155, 
173. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  79,  84, 
85,  86,  87,  89,  90;  defeated 
for  presidency,  130. 

Secession,  150,  155,  192-200; 
ordinance  of,  199. 

Seddon,  James  A.,  forced  to  re 
sign  from  Confederate  cabinet, 
347-348. 

Senate,  183;  Committee  of 
Thirteen  of,  194,  196,  198. 

Seward,  William  H.,  118,  119; 
leader  of  Senate,  156;  anti- 
slavery  champion,  170,  194, 
195,  196;  and  Confederate 
commissioners,  233. 

Sharkey,  Chief-Justice,  of  Mis 
sissippi,  123,  126,  127. 

Sharpsburg,  battle  of,  279-281. 

Shaw,  John  A.,  20. 

Sherman,  William  T.,  179;  in 
vades  Georgia,  319;  march 
through  Georgia,  333-334. 

Silliman,  Professor,  at  Yale, 
179. 

Simms,  William  Gilmore,  181. 

Slavery,  53,  54,  55,  109,  110, 
111 ;  South  uneasy  about, 
114,  121,  154-155,  159,  162, 


165;  new  agitation,  166;  de 
nominations  take  part  in  dis 
cussion  of,  167,  168;  social 
influence  of,  168  ;  anti-slavery 
question,  170,  172,  175,  176. 

Slave  traffic,  177,  181. 

Slidell,  John,  United  States 
Senator,  140,  142,  159,  162; 
corruptionist,  180 ;  at  Charles 
ton,  183  ;  seized  on  board  the 
Trent,  263. 

Smith,  W.  A.,  President  of  Ran- 
dolph-Macon  College,  cham 
pions  slavery,  167. 

Smith,  Mrs.  Luther,  sister  of 
Davis,  43. 

Soule,  Pierre,  Senator  from 
Louisiana,  116;  Minister  to 
Spain,  137;  "Black  War 
rior"  affair,  138-139;  re 
called,  140,  154. 

South,  the,  "solid"  on  slavery 
question,  55;  on  question  of 
annexation,  71  ;  opposition  to 
Wilmot  Proviso.  113,  114; 
senators  of,  protest  against 
compromise,  121  ;  plans  to 
secede,  150;  filibusters  of, 
156;  favors  re-opening  of 
slave-trade,  176 ;  expects  war. 
178-1 79 ;  refuses  patronage  to 
Northern  colleges,  179,  191; 
representatives  of,  in  Con 
gress,  urge  secession,  193, 
198;  wealth  of,  209-210;  for 
eign  opinion  of,  212;  Bis 
marck's  opinion  of,  213;  re- 
adopts  National  Constitution, 
218;  and  the  tariff,  219-220; 
commissioners  of,  to  Europe, 
228;  armies  of,  organized, 
236 ;  enthusiasm  of,  236 ; 
aristocracy  of,  239-240; 
White  House  of,  242;  West 
Pointers,  in  army  of,  255; 
and  standing  armies.  267- 
268 ;  expects  foreign  recogni 
tion,  287-289;  governors  of, 


INDEX 


395 


293;  on  Johnston's  removal, 
333;  longs  for  peace,  354; 
enlists  negro  troops,  354- 
355. 

South  Carolina,  College  of,  em 
braces  slavery,  167,  178 ;  aris 
tocracy  of,  182,  191;  repre 
sentatives  of,  retire  from  Con 
gress,  192-193;  secedes,  195; 
commissioners  from,  200. 

Spaight,  Senator  Jesse,  of  Mis 
sissippi,  93. 

Spratt,  L.  W.,  176. 

Stanton,  E.  M.,  Secretary  of 
War,  would  bring  Davis  to 
trial,  368-369. 

Stephens,    Alexander   H.,  216; 
elected  Vice-President  of  Con 
federacy,   221 ;   commissioner 
to  Virginia,  236;  denounces- 
President    Davis,    336 ;    pro 
poses  dictatorship,    345-346;- 
proposes    overtures     to     the 
North,  347 ;  at  Fort  Warren, 
366. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  hostile  to 
Davis,  368. 

Stewart,  J.  E.  B.,  out  of  place 
at  Gettysburg,  309. 

TANEY,  CHIEF- JUSTICE,  155. 
Tarpley,  C.  S.,  of   Mississippi, 

152. 
Taylor,  Colonel  Zachary,  29,  34, 

37.    40,   41,   42,   43,   44,   77; 

friendly  to  Davis,  79 ;  joined 

by  Davis's  troops,  80,  82,  83, 

84,  85,  86,   87,  89,  90,  110; 

and    presidency,     111,    118, 

119;  death  of,  121. 
Texas,  proposed  annexation  of, 

61-63;     new     agitation     on 

question  of,  70-73 ;  claim  of, 

to  New  Mexico,  115. 
Thompson,  Jacob,  66,  94;  rival 

of  Davis,  152,  153,  158. 
Timrod,  Henry,  181. 
Tooinbs,    Robert,   97,   163;  on 


committee    of     compromise, 
194,  195,  197;  opposes  Davis,. 
234. 

Tribune,  New  York,  on  seces 
sion  and  compromise,  195, 
198. 

Troup,  Governor,  of  Georgia, 
192. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  24. 
Upshur,  Abel  P.,  61. 


VAN  BUREN,  President,  45,  62; 
and  Texas,  63,  66. 

Vance,  Zebulon  B.,  elected 
Governor  of  North  Carolina, 
283;  hostile  to  Confederate 
administration,  301 ;  contends 

"  against  Confederate  adminis 
tration,  337-338. 

-Venable,  Abraham  W.,  125. 

Vera  Cruz,  battle  of,  87-89. 

Vicksburg,  fall  of,  310. 

Virginia.  54,  55 ;  on  slavery 
question,  167 ;  convention  of, 
228;  secedes,  235;  defenses 
of,  243-244 ;  legislature  of,  re 
monstrates  with  Davis,  347. 

Virginia  Military  Institute,  178. 


WADE,  SENATOR,  of  Ohio,  on 
secession,  194-196. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  56,  63,  65, 
66;  Secretary  of  Treasury, 
67,  85,  94,  102,  104;  Gov 
ernor  of  Kansas,  157  ;  hated  in 
the  South,  163-164;  dies  in 
Washington,  164 ;  removed 
from  governorship,  170,  180. 

Walker,  William,  136,  142, 
143,  154 ;  recruiting  in  the 
South,  156  ;  arrested  in  Wash 
ington,  163;  killed,  163. 

Wallace,  Father,  Bishop  of 
Nashville,  19. 

War,  Black  Hawk,  35-40. 


396 


INDEX 


War,    Civil,    18,   24,   31,    145; 

crisis  of,  passed,  317. 
War,  Mexican,  77,  126. 
War,  Revolutionary,  16. 
War  of  1812,  19,  26,  35. 
Webster,  Daniel,  99,  115.  127, 

172,  192. 
Weed,  Thai-low,  Albany  Journal 

of,  195 ;  visits  Lincoln,  196. 
West  Point,  Davis  at,  24-27,  28. 
Whig  party,  60,  62,  64,  93,  99, 

110,   113,   121,  122-123,   125, 

127,  164 ;  protective  tariff  of. 

175. 

Whiteside,  Colonel,  36. 
William     and    Mary   College, 

and  slavery,  167. 
Wilmofc  Proviso,  107, 118,  123, 

147. 


Wilson,  James  H.,  and  Davis, 

364-365. 
Wiuthrop,     Robert     C.,     172, 

173. 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  61. 
Witchcraft,  30. 
Wool,  General,  86. 
Worth,  General,  82. 

YANCEY,  WILLIAM  L.,  in  Con 
gress,  72 ;  on  Texas  question, 
73,  75  ;  in  favor  of  Mexican 
War,  78,  94,  114,  122,  126, 
155,  165;  program  of,  166, 
173,  176,  182;  followers  of, 
meet  in  Richmond,  186,  215, 
216,  223;  opposes  conscript 
law,  283. 

Yulee,  Senator,  of  Florida,  116. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


.-* 


JAN  1 1 1954 

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REC'O  LD 


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